ational
spirit and pride of race, which now justifiably stirs Mexicans, will in
future make such an eventuality improbable. It is, indeed, much more
likely that in the end the boundaries of a powerful, prosperous Mexico
may extend to the group of small and slowly-developing Central American
Republics that join it on the south, and that a vast Spanish-speaking
confederacy will under an enlightened system of government ensure for
all time the domination of this axis of the world's trade to the
descendants of the original Conquerors whose blood has mingled with
that of the peoples they subdued. This eventuality is rendered the more
probable by the advance of the Pan-American railway which is being
pushed southwest from the Tehuantepec line towards Guatemala, and will
when completed link North America with the southern continent, and
establish a continuous system from New York to the Argentine Republic.
This, however, is a dream of the future: for the present be it said
that a regenerated Mexico has saved Central and South America from
being finally swamped by Anglo-Saxondom, and has ensured the
perpetuation in "The Land of To-morrow" of the Spanish tongue and Latin
traditions. For this relief much thanks.

MARTIN HUME.

MEXICO

CHAPTER I
A FIRST RECONNAISSANCE

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 o