CHAPTER I

A FIRST RECONNAISSANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Romance of history--Two entrance ways--Vera Cruz--Orizaba--The Great Plateau--Fortress of Ulua--Sierra Madre--Topographical structure--The Gulf coast--Tropical region--Birds, animals, and vegetation of coast zone--_Tierra caliente_--Malaria--Foothills--Romantic scenery--General configuration of Mexico--Climatic zones--Temperate zone--Cold zone--The Cordillera--Snow-capped peaks--Romance of mining--Devout miners-- Subterranean shrines--The great deserts--Sunset on the Great Plateau-- _Coyotes_ and _zopilotes_--Irrigated plantations--Railways--Plateau of Anahuac--The cities of the _mesa central_--Spanish-American civilisation--Romance of Mexican life--Mexican girls, music, and moonlight--The _peones_ and civilisation--American comparisons-- Pleasing traits of the Mexicans--The foreigner in Mexico--Picturesque mining-towns--Wealth of silver--Conditions of travel--Railways-- Invasions--Lerdo's axiom--Roads and horsemen--Strong religious sentiment--Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl--Sun-god of Teotihuacan--City of Mexico--Valley of Mexico--The Sierra Madre--_Divortia aquarum_ of the continent--Volcano of Colima--Forests and ravines--Cuernavaca--The trail of Cortes--Acapulco--Romantic old _haciendas_--Tropic sunset-- Unexplored Guerrero--Perils and pleasures of the trail--Sunset in the Pacific Ocean.