Mexico | Page 3

. . . . . . . . 207
Travel and description--Mexican cities--Guadalajara--Lake Chapala--
Falls of Juanacatlan--The Pacific slope--Colima--Puebla--Cities of the
Great Plateau--Guanajuato--Chihuahua--The Apaches--The peones--
Comparison with Americans--Peon labour system--Mode of
living--Houses of the peon class--Diet--Tortillas and frijoles--Chilli--
Pulque--Habits of the peon class--Their religion--The wayside crosses
and their tragedies--Ruthless political executions--The fallen
cross--Similarity to Bible scenes--Peon superstitions--The ignis fatuus,
or relacion--Caves and buried treasure--Prehistoric Mexican
religion--The Teocallis--Comparison with modern religious systems--
Philosophical considerations.
CHAPTER XII
MEXICAN LIFE AND TRAVEL (continued) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Anthropogeographical conditions--The Great Plateau--The tropical
belt-- Primitive villages--Incidents of travel on the plateau--Lack of
water-- Hydrographic conditions--Venomous vermin--Travel by roads
and diligencias--A journey with a priest--Courtesy of the peon class--
The curse of alcohol--The dress of the working classes--The women of
the peon class--Dexterity of the natives--The bull-fights--A narrow
escape--Mexican horse equipment--The vaquero and the lasso--Native
sports--A challenge to a duel--Foreigners in Mexico--Unexplored
Guerrero--Sporting conditions--Camp life--A day's hunting.

CHAPTER XIII
MINERAL WEALTH. ROMANCE AND
ACTUALITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Forced labour in the mines--Silver and bloodshed--History of
discovery--Guanajuato--the veta Madre--Spanish methods--Durango--
Zacatecas--Pachuca--The patio process--Quicksilver from
Peru--Cornish miners' graves--Aztec mining--Spanish advent--Old
mining methods-- Romance of mining--The Cerro de
Mercado--Guanajuato and Hidalgo--Real del Monte--Religion and
mining--Silver and churches--Subterranean altars--Mining and the
nobility--Spanish mining school--Modern conditions--The
mineral-bearing zone--Distribution of minerals
geographically--Silver--The patio process--Gold-mining and
production--El Oro and other districts--Copper--Other
minerals--General mineral production--Mining claims and laws.
CHAPTER XIV
NATURAL RESOURCES, AGRICULTURE, GENERAL
CONDITIONS . . . . . . . . 282
Principal cultivated products--Timber--The three climatic zones--
General agricultural conditions--Waste of forests--Irrigation--Region of
the river Nazas--Canal-making--Cotton and sugar-cane--Profitable
agriculture--Mexican country-houses--Fruit gardens--Food products,
cereals, and fibrous plants--Pulque production--India-rubber and
guayule--List of agricultural products and values--Fruit culture and
values--Forestry and land--Colonisation--American land-sharks--
Conditions of labour--Asiatics--Geographical distribution of products--
The States of the Pacific slope--Sonora--Lower California--Sinaloa--
Tepic--Jalisco--Colima--Michoacan--Guerrero--Oaxaca--Chiapas.
CHAPTER XV
NATURAL RESOURCES, AGRICULTURE, GENERAL

CONDITIONS (continued) . 308
Central and Atlantic States--Chihuahua and the Rio Grande--Mining,
forests, railways--Coahuila and its resources--Nuevo Leon and its
conditions--Iron, coal, railways, textile industries--Durango and its
great plains and mountain peaks--Aguascalientes--Zacatecas and its
mineral wealth--San Luis Potosi and its industries--Guanajuato,
Queretaro and Hidalgo, and their diversified resources--Mexico and its
mountains and plains--Tlaxcala--Morelos and its sugar-cane industry--
The rich State of Puebla--Tamaulipas, a littoral state--The historic State
of Vera Cruz, its resources, towns, and harbour--Campeche and the
peninsula of Yucatan.
CHAPTER XVI
MEXICAN FINANCE, INDUSTRIES, AND
RAILWAYS . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
Financial rise of Mexico--Tendencies toward restriction against
foreigners--National control of railways--Successful financial
administration--Favourable budgets--Good trade conditions--Foreign
liabilities--Character of exports and imports--Commerce with foreign
nations--Banks and currency--Principal industries--Manufacturing
conditions--Labour, water-power, and electric installations--Textile
industry, tobacco, iron and steel, paper, breweries, etc.--Railways-- The
Mexican Railway--The Mexican Central Railway--The National
Railroad--The Interoceanic--Governmental consolidation--The
Tehuantepec Railway--Port of Salina Cruz--Other railway systems.
CHAPTER XVII
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Mexico's unique conditions--Her future--Asiatic immigrants--Fostering
of the native race--Encouraging of immigration--The white man in the
American tropics--Future of Mexican manufactures--The
Pan-American Congress--Pan-American railway--Mexico and

Spain--The Monroe Doctrine-- Mexico, Europe, and the United
States--Promising future of Mexico.
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
AN IDYLL OF MEXICO: INDIAN CARRIERS, RUINED CHURCH,
AND SNOW-CLAD PEAK OF ORIZABA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
THE ATLANTIC SLOPE: TUNNEL AND BRIDGE OF THE
INFIERNILLO CANYON ON THE MEXICAN RAILWAY, IN THE
STATE OF VERA CRUZ . . . . . . . . . . 4
THE GREAT PLATEAU: NIGHTFALL IN THE
DESERT . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
ON THE GREAT PLATEAU: VIEW OF THE CITY OF
DURANGO . . . . . . . . 9
ORIZABA, CAPPED WITH PERPETUAL SNOW: VIEW ON THE
MEXICAN RAILWAY AT
CORDOBA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
PINE-CLAD HILLS FORMING THE RIM OF THE VALLEY OF
MEXICO, 8,000 FEET ELEVATION ABOVE
SEA-LEVEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
TYPICAL VILLAGE OF THE PACIFIC COAST ZONE, STATE OF
COLIMA . . . . 18
THE FINDING OF THE SITE FOR THE PREHISTORIC CITY OF
MEXICO BY THE FIRST AZTECS . . . . . . . . . . . .