PHYSICAL CONDITIONS: MOUNTAINS, TABLELANDS, AND FLORA AND FAUNA
Geographical conditions--Tehuantepec--Yucatan--Boundaries and area--
Population--Vera Cruz--Elevations above sea-level--Latitude--General
topography--The Great Plateau--The Sierra Madres--The Mexican Andes--
General structure--The coasts--Highest peaks--Snow-cap and volcanoes--
Geological formation--Geological scenery--Hydrographic systems--
Rivers--Navigation--Water-power--Lakes--Climate and temperatures--The
three climatic zones--Rainfall--Snowfall--Flora and fauna--Soil--
Singular cactus forms--The desert flora--The tropical flora--Forest
regions--Wild animals--Serpents, monkeys, and felidae--Sporting
conditions--Birds.
We have traced the evolution of the Mexican people through the phases
of their chequered history: let us now examine more closely their
habitat, the country and its physical structure, and natural clothing;
its mountains and plains and accompanying vegetation, no less
interesting and picturesque in their respective fields.
The geographical conditions of Mexico and its geology and accompanying
topography are peculiar, and indeed in some respects unique. Mexico has
been termed "the bridge of the world's commerce,"[24] and, in fact, its
geographical position between the two great oceans of the world--the
Atlantic and the Pacific, and between, or joining, two great
continents, North and South America--would seem to warrant such a
description, especially having regard to the coming development of that
part of the world and the rise of the Pacific Ocean in commercial
importance. It is indeed a favourite theory of some writers that the
commercial and civilised centre of the world is destined to shift from
the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. This theory, which must be
characterised, however, as open to much conjecture, has been lightly
discussed elsewhere in these pages. But be it as it may, the situation
of the cornucopia-shaped land of Mexico is of great and growing
importance. Among the geographical features of almost international
importance is the remarkable isthmus of Tehuantepec--now traversed by a
railway--which separates by only 120 miles the deep waters of the
Atlantic and Pacific Ocean systems. It is an isthmus of Panama of
greater width, and certainly may form a "bridge of commerce."
[Footnote 24: Humboldt.]
Mexico--apart from the Yucatan peninsula--consists of a great
triangular-shaped area, forming the tapering end of the North American
Continent. It is bounded on the north and north-east by the United
States; on the east by the Atlantic waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf
of Campeche, and Caribbean Sea; on the west and south by the Pacific
Ocean; and on the south-east by Guatemala and British Honduras. Mexico
is, therefore, a close neighbour of a part of the British Empire! The
greatest length of the country is 2,000 miles nearly, its greatest
width 760 miles, and its area 767,000 square miles. Thus it is nearly
nine times the size of Great Britain, or as large as Great Britain,
France, Germany, and Austria-Hungary all joined together; and this
enormous area is inhabited at present by only fourteen or fifteen
million people.
Although Mexico lies half within and half without the tropics, it is
generally known as a tropical country; and, indeed, the main gateway to
it, Vera Cruz, is a tropical seaport, which may well give rise to such
a general impression upon the part of the European traveller. A
different impression, however, is acquired upon entering the country
from the United States to the north. No tropic forests and
bright-plumaged birds are encountered there as at Vera Cruz; instead
are vast stretches of desert lying within the temperate zone,
alternating with cultivated plains and interspersed with large towns.
The traveller, roused by the shriek of the locomotive, looks forth into
the clear dawn of the chill Mexican morning from the window of his
sleeping-berth upon the Pullman car, as the train speeds over the
plateau.
[Illustration: MEXICO'S ARTIFICIAL HARBOURS: THE NEW PORT WORKS AT VERA
CRUZ, A SOLID AND COSTLY ENTERPRISE.]
No fact is more strongly borne upon the traveller in Andine and
Cordillera-formed countries than that latitude forms but an unreliable
guide to climate and temperature. Nearness to the Equator, with its
accompanying torridity, is often counterbalanced by high elevations
above sea-level, with consequent rarefied air and low temperature--a
combination which embodies considerable advantages, as well as some
drawbacks. These conditions are very marked in Mexico. Entering the
country from Vera Cruz, we rise rapidly from sea-level to 7,410 feet at
the City of Mexico; entering from the United States, we rise
imperceptibly from 4,000 feet to the same elevation. As to its
geographical position, the country extends over 18 degrees of latitude,
from 32-1/2 degrees north to 14-1/2 degrees north, and it lies between
the 86th and 118th meridian west of Greenwich.
Topographically the country offers a very varied surface, the main
features of which are the Great Plateau, the extensive, lofty tableland
known as the _mesa central_; and the Pacific and Atlantic slopes,
formed by the flanks of the Sierra Madres mountains towards these
oceans respectively. At the base of these ranges are the lowlands of
the coasts; whilst the eastern extremity of the country is formed by
the singular plains of the peninsula of Yucatan.
A large part of the country's area is taken up by this great plateau of
Anahuac, as it is sometimes termed. The tableland is bounded both on
the east and the west by ranges of mountains, known as the Eastern
Sierra Madre and the Western Sierra Madre respectively. These mountains
close in towards the south, enclosing the tableland in a tapering form,
and the Valley of Mexico which forms its extremity. On the north the
_mesa central_ is intersected by the Rio Grande, which forms the
boundary of Mexico with the United States; and the plateau continues
thence into the territory of that country. The length of this plateau,
from north-west to south-east, or, roughly, upon its longitudinal axis,
is approximately 800 miles, and its greatest width between the summits
of the enclosing mountains about 500 miles. The tableland is, however,
intersected by various lesser ranges of hills, and is not by any means
a flat, unbroken expanse. Nevertheless, its formation is such that a
vehicle might be driven from the City of Mexico for vast distances
without having resort to roads. It may be looked upon physically as a
great plane, inclined or tipped from south to north, or from the City
of Mexico to the United States border. The general elevation above
sea-level of the inclined plane at its southern end is 8,000 feet, and
that at its northern 4,000 feet--a slope of 4,000 feet in a direction
away from the Equator; and a fact which greatly influences its climate.
The Mexican plateau is the result of after-formation from the mountain
system of the country. The Sierra Madres are the Mexican Andes, part of
the chain-formation of those vast Cordilleras which are most developed
in South America, on the one hand, and are encountered in the Rocky
Mountains of North America on the other. In South America the Andes
consist of huge parallel chains with river and lake-basins of profound
depth between them. In Mexico the same formation must have existed, but
the basins have been filled up by material discharged from volcanoes
and from the erosion of the mountains themselves, doubtless caused by
the severe and sudden rain-storms and rapid changes of temperature
characteristic of these regions. Thus the great plateau may be likened
to a number of filled-up troughs, through whose general surface the
tops of mountain ranges still protrude in "islands" or groups, whose
crests form the intersecting hills of the plateau. Some of the plains
of the plateau between these crests are hydrographic entities, with no
outlet for their waters, as in the case of the _Bolson_ of Mapimi--a
vast rock-wilderness of 50,000 square miles in area, with great swamps
and lake bottoms--and the Valley of Mexico. These great depressions,
indeed, in a measure bear out the analogy or relationship with the
South American Andes, as in the case of the hydrographic entity of Lake
Titicaca in Peru and Bolivia, the great inland sea whose waters have no
outlet save by evaporation. The enormous depth of alluvial soil found
in the _bolsones_ or depressions of the Mexican plateau, formed from
rock-decay, or of volcanic material accumulated by the great lakes of
recent times which covered them in the central part of the great _mesa
central_, bear striking evidence to the filling-up process of the past.
In the neighbourhood of the River Nazas wells have been sunk to great
depths in this material without a single stone or rock of any
description being encountered. Indeed, on some of the cotton lands of
this region I have looked in vain to find even a pebble, so fine is the
alluvial soil. The stratified rocks, which are scarce upon the southern
part of the plateau, become much more prevalent in the north, and the
vast sandy, arid plains, which cover enormous areas of land in
Chihuahua and Coahuila extending thence past the valley of the Rio
Grande into the great American deserts of Texas and New Mexico, are
doubtless formed from the disintegration of the sandstone and chalk
horizons of that region.
Leaving for a moment our examination of the great plateau, let us
observe the coast. On both sides of the country--the Gulf of Mexico or
the Pacific Ocean--we observe that the littoral is composed of sandy
lowlands. On the eastern or Gulf side these coastal plains vary in
width from a few miles up to a hundred miles; for the Cordillera
approaches near to the sea at Vera Cruz, and recedes far from it in
Tamaulipas. Upon the Pacific side, however, the coastal plains are more
restricted in width, as the Cordillera runs nearer the sea-coast, but
leaving a wider strip at the north. Indeed, in the State of Guerrero
the Sierras rise almost abruptly from salt water, and the waves bathe
the roots of the trees which cover the mountain slopes. The country
rises rapidly from both oceans--more rapidly from the Pacific side--and
forms a succession of terraces upon the slopes of the Sierra Madres,
traversed by profound transversal canyons and culminating in the crests
of these mountains which enclose the great plateau on both sides.
[Illustration: ASCENDING THE MEXICAN CORDILLERA, OR EASTERN SIERRA
MADRE: THE RAILWAY IS SEEN IN THE VALLEY FAR BELOW.]
The Sierra Madres, or Mexican Andes, have the general Andine direction
of north-north-west. They are divided into two systems--the western and
the eastern--whose respective crests in the north are from 400 to 500
miles apart, enclosing the _mesa central_, and which approach towards
the south. The Pacific range has some important ramifications from its
main system, but the general Andine structure is maintained. The range
is again encountered in the long peninsula of North-Western
Mexico--known as Lower California--where it parallels the eastern side
of this great tongue of land for more than 700 miles. Indeed, a study
of Mexico's orography and the delineation upon the map shows the series
of parallel features formed by alternate mountain-folds and intervening
basins--the peninsula of Lower California; the Gulf of the same name;
the Western Sierra Madre; the intersecting crests of the great plateau;
the Eastern Sierra Madre, and the Gulf Coast. Thus these huge
"earth-wrinkles" of the Andine system of South America show their
characteristics in Mexico, modified, however, by cross-agencies of
volcanic nature. The map of Mexico shows strikingly how the country is
formed upon its rocky framework, the ribs of these vast folds.
[Illustration: THE STATE OF VERA CRUZ: THE PEAK OF ORIZABA; PLAZA OF
THE CITY OF CORDOVA.]
The passes over these mountain ranges, giving access to the
plateau-interior of Mexico from the oceans, vary from 8,500 feet to
10,000 feet, the range upon the Pacific side being generally the
higher. But the highest peaks rise much above these altitudes, in some
few cases reaching beyond the perpetual snow-line, although ever much
lower than the Andes of South America. Three culminating peaks only
pass the snow-line in Mexico, although others of the crests and summits
are frequently snow-covered. The first of these three peaks is Orizaba,
or Citlaltepetl--the "Star Mountain" of the native--the beautiful and
symmetrically formed cone whose gleaming snow-cap is seen by the
approaching traveller far over the stormy waters of the Gulf as he
approaches the shores of Vera Cruz. So Grijalva and Cortes saw it; so
the voyager of to-day sees it, as its snowy point seems to hang in
mid-sky, its base buried in clouds and its gleaming summit surrounded
by the azure of the tropic firmament. The summit of Orizaba is 18,250
feet above the level of the sea--the highest point in Mexico. Next in
point of altitude is the famous Popocatepetl--the "Smoking Mountain,"
so called by the natives for its eruptions in centuries past, for it is
no longer active. Some of the adventurous Spaniards of the band of
Cortes reached the rim of the crater on its summit, and, indeed, later
the Spaniards extracted sulphur therefrom, and various ascents have
been made recently. Its last eruption was in 1665. The summit of
Popocatepetl is 17,250 feet above sea-level, and it is of
characteristic conical form. The third perpetually snow-capped peak is
Ixtaccihuatl--the "Sleeping Woman," so named by the natives from the
fanciful suggestiveness of a reclining woman--and its summit is 16,960
feet above the sea. The Indian names of these striking monuments of
nature serve to show the poetical nomenclature which the natives of the
Americas ever gave to topographical features. Especially was this the
case among the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru. The last-named
mountain is not of the characteristic conical form which volcanoes
generally have, its outline--beautiful as it is--forming a serrated
edge, and it appeared singularly striking from Tacubaya, where I first
beheld it. Nevertheless, all these three mountains--the highest points
in the country--are of volcanic origin. The majestic and poetic peaks
of the "Smoking Mountain" and the "Sleeping Woman" form part of the
Sierra Nevada, or Cordillera of Anahuac, in company with Malinche,
another of the highest culminating peaks, 14,630 feet above sea-level.
This chain is a cross ridge of volcanic and more recent formation than
that of the general system of the Mexican Cordilleras, and forms, as it
were, a line of volcanic action at right angles to the general Andine
trend, associated perhaps with Orizaba on the east and the volcano of
Colima (12,990 feet elevation) on the west. This latter mountain is the
only active crater in Mexico at the present time. The great Malinche,
or Malintzin--possibly named after the fair interpreter of Cortes--is a
mountain of striking form, with its brow often snow-covered, upon the
borders of the plateau of Tlaxcala, whilst the singular Cofre de
Perote, with its box or coffin-like summit (13,400 feet above
sea-level), is a prominent landmark of the eastern slope of Mexico's
road from Vera Cruz, overhanging the summit of the Sierra Madre at the
limit of the lowlands. Other high peaks are the Nevedo de Toluca, often
snow-crowned, 14,950 feet; and Tancitaro, 12,660 feet.
The Mexican mountains are mainly of underlying granite formation. The
Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary Ages rocks are much in evidence
throughout the country, whilst the highest ranges, as we have seen, are
of volcanic origin. The singular plains of Yucatan are largely of
calcareous formation, probably a Tertiary limestone. One of the most
plentiful rocks over vast areas of Mexico, and that which forms the
striking variation of scenery, is the mountain limestone, the
excessively hard stratified crystalline rock of the Lower Cretaceous
period. This rock formation extends right across Mexico--although
isolated in places--from sea to sea, and its existence possibly goes to
show that the Pacific and the Gulf were one, in earlier geological
times. The predominating shades of these extensive strata are blue and
grey; occasionally there are black bands alternating, and they lie
upheaved at such angles as remind the traveller of the still more
pronounced strata of the high summits of the Peruvian Andes.[25] The
mountain limestone is of very hard texture; white and crystalline, it
wears away but slowly under the action of the elements, although on the
steep mountain tracks over which we are journeying we shall observe it
broken into cubes like sugar, beneath the incessant trampling of hoofs,
or worn away to silver-sand and borne down by the streamlets into the
river valleys.
[Footnote 25: See my book, "The Andes and the Amazon."]
The rock-formations of the tablelands are those to which Mexico owes
her fame as a silver-producing country, and it is in the high region,
from 5,000 to 9,500 feet above sea-level, that her historical mines are
encountered; and the zone of territory embraced by these well-known
centres, from Pachuca to Guanajuato and onwards to Chihuahua, may be
described without exaggeration as the richest argentiferous region on
the surface of the globe. It is to the metamorphic formation that the
abundance of mineral ores is due, and the igneous rocks which have
given rise thereto--the granites, basalts, diorites, porphyries, and
others. This metalliferous zone is more than 1,500 miles long,
extending from the State of Chihuahua and Sonora in the north to Oaxaca
and Chiapas in the south.
As we cross the coast-zone from Vera Cruz we are enabled to observe
something of the orographical structure of the country and the agencies
that have been at work. The coastal plains are sedimentaries of
Tertiary formation. The _medanos_, or sand-dunes, of the coast, blown
into singular forms by the prevailing _norte_ from the Gulf, give
place, as we proceed inland, to the foothills of the Eastern Sierra.
Here the Cretaceous formation is shown--the hard crystalline
limestone--and this, from its durable nature, has furnished material
for the new breakwater at Vera Cruz. Again, as we proceed, the lower
rocks are sheeted with the lava of former eruptions of volcanoes, worn
away at times by the ravines, and showing the points of Cretaceous
rocks protruding; and volcanic dust from the same source drifts hither
and thither, and at times has been compressed by the elements into a
soft tufa. The great sheets of lava, as in certain places in the Valley
of Mexico, are of remarkable appearance on the face of the country, the
scorified aspect seemingly little changed since the moment when the
fiery sheet must have poured devastatingly down the countryside.
The rock-formation of Mexican landscape gives rise to exceedingly
picturesque and romantic scenery in places, and to diverse
configurations of striking beauty, among which we shall often draw rein
as we journey, or which will attract us continually to the
observation-point of our Pullman car as the train winds along. Upon the
Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific slopes the territory is grand and broken
in the extreme, and presents curious and beautiful examples of
rock-scenery. The natural monoliths of the _barrancas_ of the State of
Hidalgo are strange examples of scenic geology; monumental caprice of
Nature in megalithic structure, as shown by the remarkable basalt
columns of the profound Gorge of Itzala. Vari-coloured lichens cover
these basalt pillars, affording singular contrast of light and shade.
Through the gorge a torrential stream flows, and the floor of the
valley is covered with fragments of obsidian, or volcanic glass,
gleaming black and brilliant, which has been brought down by the waters
from the Cerro de Navajas. This obsidian, or Itzli, was the material
from which the Aztecs made their knives and weapons, and this was their
prehistoric quarry. The red lava deserts of Sonora are weird and
remarkable.
Mexico is divided hydrographically into three systems: the Atlantic, or
Gulf of Mexico watershed; that of the Pacific; and the hydrographic
entities of the great plateau. In the first of these is the vast region
of the northern part of Mexico, which, with Texas and New Mexico,
drains into the Rio Grande and thence into the Gulf; the long littoral
of the Gulf Coast, whose _divortia aquarum_, or water-parting, is
formed by the Eastern Sierra Madre; and the peninsula of Yucatan. In
the second is the vast stretch of the Pacific slope, whose _divortia
aquarum_ is the Western Sierra Madre; the peninsula of Lower
California, and the southern side of the region south of the Isthmus of
Tehuantepec. In the third are the intra-montane portions of the great
plateau, whose waters have no outlet or natural source of exhaustion
except that by evaporation, such as the great plains known as the
Bolson of Mapimi; and the Valley of Mexico. Topographically,
however--apart from the three climatic zones of hot, temperate, and
cold lands--the country is divided orographically into two portions by
the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the former consisting of the characteristic
mountain-chains and great plateau, and the latter of the immense plains
of Yucatan, with a low elevation of not more than 300 feet above
sea-level.
The formation of Mexico has not given rise to the existence of great or
navigable rivers nor, indeed, of harbours. With few exceptions rivers
are torrential in character, although some are of considerable length.
The Rio Grande, which forms the northern boundary of the United States,
and is therefore international in character, is 1,500 miles in length;
rising in Colorado and passing through New Mexico in the United States,
and thence entering between Texas and Chihuahua, it is joined by two
large tributaries--the Pecos on the American and the Conchos river on
the Mexican side. Thence it flows south-eastwardly to the Gulf of
Mexico. The waters which enter Mexican territory are scarce, as they
have been taken out for irrigation purposes in American territory. The
Lerma, or Santiago, river is the next in point of length, and is a
stream of considerable importance, dividing the main portion of Mexico
topographically into two subdivisions. It flows for 540 miles from its
source in the mountains near Toluca, passing through the beautiful Lake
Chapala--the largest in Mexico--and forms the great cascade of
Juanacatlan, the Niagara of Mexico; traverses the State of Jalisco,
where it is joined by numerous affluents, and discharges into the
Pacific Ocean near San Blas.
[Illustration: FALLS OF JUANACATLAN: THE NIAGARA OF MEXICO.]
Southwardly from the above, beyond the intervening Cordillera, is the
River Balsas, or Mescala, 430 miles in length. This important stream
has its rise in the watershed of the central plateau, or rather the
extensive slopes of the Valley of Mexico, and running with a general
westerly direction between the Sierras, empties into the Pacific at
Zacatula. It is navigable for a short distance. The Yaqui, discharging
into Pacific waters, is 390 miles long, flowing through the Sierras of
Sonora to the Gulf of California. On the littoral of the Mexican Gulf
is the Panuco, which rises to the north of the Valley of Mexico,
flowing thence in a great curve; and being joined by various affluents
from the eastern watershed of the Sierra Madres, it discharges at the
port of Tampico. The Papaloapam, also draining part of the State of
Vera Cruz, empties into the Gulf near the port of the same name. From
the region of the peninsula of Yucatan flow two main streams--the
Usamacinta and the Grijalva--which are partly navigable. All these
rivers are further described in the chapter treating of the various
States to which they correspond. Another characteristic stream of
Mexico is the River Nazas, whose waters, nearly all absorbed by the
irrigation canals of the Laguna region, where the famous cotton
plantations are, fall in times of flood into the Lagoon of Parras,
where they evaporate, the system forming a hydrographic entity, without
outlet either to the Pacific or Atlantic watershed. Thus it is seen
that most Mexican rivers simply rise in and descend on one or the other
slopes of the country; and as the fall is rapid their courses are
interrupted by numerous cascades. Except in few cases, these rivers are
of no service for navigation, but the elements of water-power and
irrigation facilities which they possess are more than compensating
circumstances. In addition, their scenic value is very marked in many
cases.
Lakes of Andine character, and others, exist throughout Mexico, the
remnants of much larger lake systems, which occupied the filled-up
"troughs" of the mountains, before described. Some of these sheets of
water are exceedingly beautiful in their disposition and environment.
Foremost among them is Chapala, in the State of Jalisco, near the
handsome city of Guadalajara; and equally picturesque those smaller
sheets of water in Michoacan--Lakes Cuitzeo and Patzcuaro. The
remarkable groups of lakes in the Valley of Mexico, around which the
Aztec civilisation flourished, comprise six salt-water and one (that of
Chalco) fresh-water lake. The two maps given in these pages, of the
disposition of these lakes at the time of the Conquest[26] and at the
present day, respectively, show how remarkably their waters have shrunk
during the intervening centuries. Indeed, this may have followed a
certain drying-up process which seems to have been going on throughout
the whole Andine region of the Americas, and which is evidenced by
retiring snow-caps in Peru, and the receding of Lake Titicaca.
[Footnote 26: See page 76.]
The climate and temperature of Mexico follow certain marked zones,
depending upon elevation, as already indicated in the opening chapter.
Both on the Atlantic and Pacific slopes these zones are
encountered--the _tierra caliente_ up to 3,000 feet elevation above
sea-level; the _tierra templada_ to 5,000 or 6,000; and the _tierra
fria_ above that altitude. On the tropical lowlands the heat of the
torrid zone is experienced, but is not necessarily oppressive, although
the European or American traveller who prefers a less enervating
climate hastens to exchange that region for the more bracing air of the
uplands. The night breezes, however, compensate largely for the heat of
the sun, and render bearable, and indeed agreeable, the Vera Cruz
littoral and the Yucatan peninsula, by the lowered temperature they
afford. The rains also, which have their season from June to November,
do much to refresh the atmosphere. Indeed, the year is divided mainly
by the matter of rainfall into a wet and dry period, the summer and
winter of other countries being unknown; or, rather, one might say,
that the daytime is the summer and the night-time the winter, so marked
are the diurnal changes of temperature.
In the _tierra caliente_ the mean temperature varies from 77 degrees to
80 degrees F., but often rises to 100 degrees, and in some of the
hottest coast regions to 105 degrees F. In the _tierra templada_ the
mean is from 62 degrees to 70 degrees F., and this is the climatic
region which the Mexicans love to term "perpetual spring." In point of
fact, it is a zone not unworthy of the designation, being equable,
healthy, and with a beautiful and varied _flora_. It is to be
recollected that the greater part of the area of the country lies in
this temperate zone, although there is included in it a part of the
great plateau, with its great range of heat and cold from day to night.
It is, however, with reference to the Atlantic and Pacific slopes that
these changes are ascribed, and this fine and enjoyable climate is
encountered from Ameca in Jalisco to Chilpancingo in Guerrero on the
western side; and from Jalapa northwards upon the Gulf--vast belts of
territory of which any country might well be proud. Upwards from this
zone is that of the _tierra fria_, with a mean temperature of 59
degrees or 60 degrees F., which varies little throughout the year,
although the maximum and minimum from day to night is very marked.
[Illustration: THE PACIFIC COAST ZONE: GENERAL VIEW OF THE CITY AND
ENVIRONS OF COLIMA.]
As regards the climate of Mexico generally, it might have been supposed
that it would be oppressively hot, the country lying, as it does,
towards the Equator. But this is far from being the case; and the New
Yorker may well leave the stifling heat of his own city in summer for
the tonic breezes of the Mexican uplands, just as he may winter there
to avoid the bitter winter of New York. And, as to the European, we may
recollect that the northernmost point of Mexico is two degrees nearer
the Equator than the southernmost point of Europe, whilst the mean
annual temperature of the City of Mexico--61 degrees F.--bears
excellent comparison with such places as Algiers, 63 degrees;
Barcelona, 61 degrees; Naples, 61 degrees; Rome, 60 degrees; Bordeaux,
57 degrees F. The diurnal change in the City of Mexico, however, is
very marked, rising to 89 degrees F. during the day and falling to 35
degrees F. at night, when the foreigner gladly dons his overcoat and
the native his _capa_, or _serape_. On the whole, it is natural to
describe the climate of Mexico as pleasing and invigorating, whilst
bearing in mind the variation above described, due to elevation,
latitude, rainfall, and wind agencies. The effects of these changes are
so marked upon the vegetation of the country that all the vegetable
products from the Equator to the Polar Circle can be found among them.
The rainfall throughout the country is mainly confined to the rainy
season, from May or June to October or November. During the middle of
this season the rains are, at times, exceedingly heavy, the dry stream
beds of the plateau filling up in a few hours with a torrential flood
which sweeps everything before it. The desert plains in some places are
traversed by deep _barrancas_, or gullies, worn down perpendicularly
through the soil; and woebetide the unlucky horseman who may be
journeying along the bottom of one of these when the wave of water
comes down from some sudden cloud-burst in the mountains, which happens
not infrequently. Incautious Indians and _peones_, also, who have taken
up their lodging in some cave or dug-out of the banks of the torrential
rivers of the plateau, or who have laid drunk upon the sun-baked
river-bed, are often surprised by the waters, and their bodies are
recovered miles away, stranded upon some sand-bar. This serves as
giving an idea of the sudden and rapid flow of water from the mountains
under the torrential rains; and a good example of a river subject to
such a regimen is that of the Nazas. I have crossed the dry bed of this
river at Torreon on various occasions on horseback, but on the return
journey an hour afterwards the horse was swimming, or, when the current
was too fierce, it was necessary to make a long detour to the bridge,
for the torrent was raging 300 feet wide from bank to bank.
The average rainfall varies greatly for different parts of the country.
For example, in the City of Mexico a year's mean fall may be 25 inches,
whilst in Monterrey, some 500 miles to the north, it would reach 130
inches. In the dry season, however, no rain falls in any of the three
zones of hot, temperate, or cold lands. Snowfall is very rare as far
south as the City of Mexico, but is not unknown. In the cities of the
great plateau, to the north, it is almost equally rare, occurring
perhaps once or twice in a lifetime. When such does take place it
affords an unwonted spectacle for the _peones_, and causes them to wrap
themselves in their _serapes_ and muffle up their mouths as if they
were in the polar regions, rather than experiencing a momentary fall of
temperature! A scene of this nature occurred during my stay in Lerdo,
one of the towns of this region, and is well depicted in the
accompanying view. The low rainfall of the extreme north of Mexico, of
two to three inches, on the border of Arizona, and the excessive fall,
reaching 156 inches, on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, with the high rate
for Monterrey and the moderate fall for the capital, show how
remarkable are the hygrometric conditions due to topography. The
maximum rainfall is only exceeded in very few regions of the globe.
[Illustration: A RARE OCCURRENCE: SNOWFALL IN A MEXICAN TOWN; VIEW OF
THE PLAZA OF LERDO, ON THE GREAT PLATEAU.]
If the geology and topography of Mexico are marked and peculiar, the
organic world also presents its own remarkable conditions; for, as to
its _flora_ and _fauna_, Mexico is a land of transition, between North
America on the one hand and Central and South America on the other, and
contains the species of both regions, in the animal and vegetable
kingdoms.
As may well be imagined from such peculiar conditions, Mexico is a
country whose _flora_ and _fauna_ are diverse and extensive. Indeed, as
regards the former, every vegetable product found from the Equator to
the Polar Circle exist in the country. The soil, in the tropical
regions, as a result of high temperature and excessive moisture, is
deep and fertile, both from the rock-decay consequent upon such
conditions, and the deposit of organic matter from the profuse
vegetation. In the region of the high plateau the product of
rock-disintegration added to that caused by volcanic matter, and the
sediment of dried-up lagoons of very recent time, have produced a great
depth of soil in places, as before described, covering vast expanses,
and this soil is found to be of exceeding fertility under irrigation.
The conditions regarding irrigation are very marked in the region of
the Nazas. On the one hand we encounter dry, bare, and uncultivated
wastes; on the other verdant fields of cotton. Why is this? Both the
lands are of a similar character of soil, but one is above the line of
the irrigation canal, and the other below.
No description of Mexico can be complete which does not sound the
praises of her varied _flora_. The most striking characteristic of the
flowers of this land, as has often been remarked, is the richness and
brilliance of their colour. The floating gardens, and the canoe-loads
of flowers and altar adornments of such which the Aztecs used and
trafficked in, bore witness to aboriginal appreciation of these. To-day
the flower-market of the capital is one of its attractions, whilst in
the valley of Mexico not a day in the year lacks roses, lilies,
camellias, strawberries, _et hoc genus omne_.
A varied and indeed, at times, eccentric field of study is laid open
for the botanist in Mexico, for not only is there a remarkable variety
of species, but their distribution is often singular. Thus the
pine-tree is often found at low elevations upon the tropic slopes, much
below its proper _habitat_ upon the mountain ranges; whilst palms
flourish in certain places as high as 8,000 feet above sea-level; and
the extraordinary cactus forms, which in Mexico are found in their
greatest development, grow both on the high mountain slopes and the
tropic lowland plains. Especially will the traveller in Mexico be
struck by the imposing _organo_ cactus. This extraordinary growth, in
form like a series of organ pipes, from which it takes its name, or
like a huge branching candelabra, arising from a single stem, is a
marked feature of the landscape. A few strokes of a machete, severing
the stem of one of these great succulent plants, will bring down the
whole structure, weighing many tons. The cactus, especially upon the
high, arid deserts of the plateau, is a striking example of a plant
contending with the conditions of its environment in the struggle for
life. Cacti are veritable cisterns of water, stored up against long
periods of absolute drought, so that they may be able to perform their
function of flowering. The _organo_ and other cacti consist of great
masses of juicy green cells; and to protect the scarce commodity of
water which they have collected for their own use from predatory desert
beasts and birds, Nature has armed them at every point with an
appalling armour of thorns, or spikes, sharp as steel, and due to these
matters of offence and defence the cactus is enabled to flourish in
sterile places where absolutely no other vegetation could exist.
Nowhere are these conditions so marked as upon the upper reaches of the
high plateau of Mexico, and the variety of the cacti is most
interesting. Among the cactus species are some which are of
value--great value--to the human inhabitants. Chief of these is the
_maguey_ (_Agave americana_), which is indeed one of the staple
resources of the country, with a varied use, as described in the pages
dealing with agriculture. The _nopat_, or prickly-pear, is a useful
plant, yielding a succulent fruit--the _tunas_--and is also the habitat
of the cochineal.
[Illustration: A ROAD IN THE TEMPERATE ZONE, WITH PALMS AND
VEGETATION.]
The tropical region--the _tierra caliente_--is generally covered, as
before described, with a profuse floral and arboreal vegetation, whilst
the other climatic belts display their own peculiar plant and tree
life. Throughout the country generally, a large number of species of
timber and plants exist in an uncultivated state, of commercial value,
and these are enumerated in the chapter corresponding to the natural
products. Among the 115 or more species of timber and wood for
constructional purposes are oak, pine, mahogany, cedar, and others,
whilst the list of fibrous and medicinal plants, gum-bearing trees, as
india-rubber, _chicle_, &c., tinctorial and resinous trees, edible
plants and fruits, is of much interest and value. In the tropical
lowlands the country is so thickly wooded as in places to be
impassable, except by clearing trails and felling trees. There are
virgin forests of great extent in these sparsely populated regions,
both of the Pacific and Atlantic slopes. Upon the great plateau,
however, and the mountain slopes immediately adjoining it conditions
are very different. Great tracts of country are, as elsewhere
described, absolutely bare of vegetation, both naturally and by reason
of the inroads made upon the forests by civilised man. The great desert
tracts never had tree or plant life in profusion, but the hilly regions
bounding these, and the inward slopes of the Sierra Madres were
formerly covered with thick forests, and in some regions are still so
covered. But they have been denuded in certain regions of their timber,
principally for fuel, as native coal has been unknown until recently,
and is difficult of transport. This denudation has had an undoubted
effect upon the rainfall, and has served to change the climatic
conditions in these regions. In other upland regions, however, the
splendid and extensive forests of oak and pine form marked features of
the landscape, and are of much industrial value.
[Illustration: VEGETATION IN THE TROPICAL FORESTS.]
The diversity of climatic and botanical conditions of Mexico gives as a
natural corollary a variety of animal life, and the _fauna_ is an
extensive one, including, with small exception, all the species of
North America on the one hand, and of South America on the other. Those
of the former, naturally, are found upon the great plateau; those of
the latter in the tropical lowlands. Among the main exceptions are the
llama and alpaca, the domestic wool-bearing animals of the camel
family, and kindred varieties, which do not exist in Mexico, nor are
found anywhere in the world outside the highlands of Peru and Bolivia.
Indeed, native Mexico, before the introduction of the equine race from
Europe, had no beast of burden whatever, such as the llama afforded to
the South American aboriginal peoples.
The _fauna_ of the country embraces fifty-two varieties of mammal
quadrupeds, including three species of large felidae--the jaguar, the
puma, or cougar, and the ocelot, a carnivorous cat-like animal, whose
name is derived from the native Mexican word _ocelotl_. There are five
varieties of monkeys in the tropical forests, as well as a sloth. There
are forty-three classes of reptiles, including alligators and turtles,
and several kinds of venomous serpents, and the great boa-constrictor.
Upon the plateau and mountain ranges wolves and wild-cats abound, and
the coyote is the wild inhabitant of the desert plains most in
evidence. There are several kinds of bears, and the wolf, skunk, bison,
and tapir are found.
Mexico cannot be said to offer a field for hunters of big game, and the
term "a sportsman's paradise" which is sometimes applied to it, is
something of an exaggeration. Nevertheless, there is considerable sport
to be had, and certain kinds of game abound. Among animals may be
enumerated the peccaries, or _javilines_, deer, rabbits, hares; of
reptiles, alligators, turtles, and iguanas; whilst whales, seals, and
sea-lions are encountered upon the Pacific coast. Alligators are
numerous in the estuaries of the rivers of both the Gulf and the
Pacific sides, as well as turtles and tortoises. Of birds for the
sportsman may be mentioned the wild turkey--which, indeed, was
introduced to Europe from Mexico--partridges, quail, and wild pigeons.
The armadillo, beaver, martin, otter, and others are among the Mexican
_fauna_. Of noxious reptiles and insects the rattlesnake is much in
evidence, as well as the tarantula, centipede, _alacran_, or scorpion,
and varieties of ants. Of birds of beautiful plumage the Mexican
tropics abound with life, and they are famed for their fine feathers,
and as songsters. They are an example of Nature's compensating
circumstances; for in the hot lowlands they are more distinguished for
their bright plumage than their voice; whilst in the uplands they are
of much more modest dress, but higher singing capacities. More than 350
species of birds have been enumerated throughout the country, and among
these are fifty varieties of humming-birds, which range throughout the
whole colour-scale, from blue and green to scarlet. The _zenzontle_, or
mocking-bird, is a well-known bird in Mexico.
Such are, in brief, the natural conditions of geological structure,
climatic conditions, and the organic world consequent thereon, of this
varied and interesting land; and having thus observed them we must turn
our attention to the human family whose _habitat_ they form--the men
and women of Mexico of to-day.