MEXICO.

If we glance over Mexico, we shall see that the country is, like the

continent of which it forms a part, of a triangular shape,--the eastern

portion bounded by the Gulf of Mexico, low and flat sandy deserts or

noxious marshes being spread over it, and with a narrow belt of level

land at the base of the mountains on the Pacific shore. A series of

terraces broken by ravines form the sides of a vast table-land,--six

thousand feet above the plain,--which stretches from north to south

throughout the interior, separated here and there by rocky ridges into

smaller plateaux; while vast mountains in several parts rise from their

midst--that of Popocatepetl, the highest in Mexico, reaching to a height

of 17,884 feet, with Orizaba, almost of equal elevation, and several

mountains not much inferior to them, their snowy summits seen from afar,

through the clear atmosphere of that lofty region. Several are active

volcanoes; the most curious being that of Jorullo, surrounded by

miniature mountains emitting smoke and fire, and presenting the wildest

scene of utter desolation. They form pinnacles of the great range of

the Andes and the Rocky Mountains. From the midst of the great

table-land of Anahuac, flows towards the north the river of Santiago,

its course exceeding four hundred miles, passing in its way through the

large lake of Chapala. Some of these table-lands are even eight

thousand feet above the sea. The most lofty is so cold, that during the

greater part of the day the thermometer varies between 42 degrees and 46

degrees. The great table-land to the east of the Sierra Madre has an

elevation which varies from three thousand to six thousand feet. To the

west of that sierra, is the region of Sonora; while eastward, across the

Rocky Mountains, is the great valley of New Mexico, watered by the Rio

Grande del Norte, which has a course of nearly fourteen hundred miles.

We have thus, in Mexico, a region of elevated plateaux with numerous

lofty mountains, steep and broken hill-sides, with deep valleys, watered

by numerous streams, and a wide extent of low, level country under the

rays of a tropical sun. These several regions possess a great

difference in climate, and a corresponding variation in their

productions, and, in most instances, in the animals which inhabit them.

The domestic animals introduced by the Spaniards, have multiplied

greatly, so that vast herds of cattle and horses run wild on the

table-lands and lower tracts. Sheep also abound, especially on the

northern table-lands. The buffalo makes his way to the great plains

bordering the Red River and Arkansas; while deer, in large herds, abound

on the higher plains. They are followed, as elsewhere, by packs of

wolves and foxes or wild dogs; while the puma makes himself at home

here, as he does in Southern America. The bear takes possession of many

a mountain cavern; the beaver and otter inhabit the banks of the streams

and lakes; the raccoon is found in the woods; and the antelope bounds

across the plains.

We know more about the feathered tribes than the mammalia of Mexico.

There are upwards of one hundred and fourteen species of land birds, one

half of which are unknown in other parts of the world. Still, out of

this entire number of species, only one new genus--which connects the

family of the tyrant-shrikes with that of the caterpillar-catchers--has

been discovered. There are two species of this genus, in both of which

the males differ greatly from the females. In this intermediate region

we find numerous genera which exist both in Northern and, Southern

America intermixed. Several South American birds have found their way

into Mexico,--as the mot-mots and trogons, the harpy and carracara

eagles, the hang-nest, the true and red tanagers, parrots, parrakeets,

macaws, creepers, crest-finches, and the fork-tailed and even-tailed

humming-birds. Of the genera peculiar to North America,--but which are

unknown in the South,--found in Mexico, are the fan-tailed wagtails,

titmice, and worm-eating warblers--blue robins, ground-finch and

sand-finch, crescent-starlings and ground-woodpecker. The sand-finch

is, however, found in the Brazils. Vast numbers of aquatic birds

frequent the lakes and marshes of the table-lands of the interior, as

well as the rivers and shores of the coast, nearly the whole of which

are well known in the United States, the greater number also inhabiting

the Arctic regions.

Among the reptiles, there is one curious creature, peculiar to the

country, allied to the siren of Carolina. It is the axolotl, which

partakes of the form of a fish, and abounds in many of the lakes in

Mexico. It is much esteemed as an article of food by the inhabitants of

the neighbourhood.

We cannot speak of Mexico without having our minds drawn to the time of

the Aztec monarchy,--when sumptuous palaces, enormous temples,

fortresses, and other public edifices covered the face of the country.

In the midst of the territory, on the western shore of the large lake of

Tezcuco, stood the city of Tenochtitlan, the superb capital of the

unfortunate Montezuma, on the site of which has arisen the modern

Mexico. Though its glory has long passed away, the enormous ruins which

still remain attest its past grandeur. Vast pyramids, on a scale and of

a massiveness which vie with those of Egypt, still rear their lofty

heads in great numbers throughout the country; while the ruins of other

buildings prove that the architecture of Mexico in many points resembled

that on the banks of the Nile. Some of these pyramids might rather be

called towers. They consist of a series of truncated pyramids placed

one above another, each successive one being smaller than the one on

which it immediately rests--thus standing in reality upon a platform or

terrace. The great pyramidal tower of Cholula is of this character,

resembling somewhat the temple of Belus, according to the description

given of it by Herodotus. It reaches a height of 177 feet, and the

length of each side of its base is 1440 feet. In its neighbourhood are

two other pyramids--teocalles, as they are called--of smaller

dimensions. These temples, or teocalles, were very numerous, and in

each of the principal cities there were several hundreds of them. The

top, on which was a broad area, was reached by a flight of steps. On

this area were one or two towers forty or fifty feet high, in which

stood the images of the presiding deities. In front of the towers was

the stone of sacrifice, and two lofty altars, on which fires were kept

burning, inextinguishable as those in the temple of Vesta. In the great

temple of Mexico there were said to be six hundred of these altars, the

fires from which illuminated the streets through the darkest night.

Deeply interesting as is the subject of the architecture and the

remarkable state of civilisation of the Aztecs, we must not dwell longer

upon it, except to mention the cyclopean roads and bridges, constructed

of huge blocks of stone, and carried on a continuous level, across

valleys, which still remain. There are also, in various parts of the

country, excavations, rock-hewn halls, and caverns, generally

dome-shaped, the centre apartment lighted through an aperture in the

vault. They somewhat resemble the cyclopean fabric near Argos, called

the Treasury of Atreus. Not only the buildings, but the hieroglyphics,

of the Aztecs, so closely resemble those of the Egyptians, that there

appears every reason to suppose they were derived from the same source.

Among the natural curiosities of Mexico, one of the most remarkable is

that of the rock-bridge in the valley Icononzo, which might, from its

form--until closely examined--be mistaken for a work of art.

The great mass of the population of Mexico consists of the descendants

of those tribes which inhabited the country at the time of the Spanish

invasion. The language most extensively spoken, as well by the

civilised as the savage tribes, is still that of the Aztecs. The people

of pure European blood are supposed not to amount to thirty thousand.

About a quarter of the population consists of Creoles, descendants of

Europeans and Indians known as Mestizos, while there is a small number

of Mulattoes, and another race, the Zambos--descendants of Africans and

Indians.

Mexico has long been in a chronic state of revolution. From a province

of Spain it became an independent empire; afterwards a republic; and

once more, under the unfortunate Maximilian, it was placed under

imperial rule, finally to fall into a far greater state of anarchy than

before.

Before we quit Mexico, a remarkable result of hydraulic action must be

mentioned, found on the sea-coast of that region. It is known as the

buffadero. At the termination of a long rugged point, the water of the

ocean, forced by a current or the waves, is projected through a fissure

or natural tube in the rock, forming a beautiful _jet d'eau_ many feet

in height.