s, Nature does not intend him to work in the same way
as in northern latitudes, and there is no doubt that a great
adaptability to environment will be brought about yet.

To turn now to a geographical distribution of the agricultural and
other resources of the country. As has been shown throughout these
chapters, Mexico embodies a wide range of varying topography, climate,
and natural resources. The thirty-one States and Territories into which
the Republic is divided politically fall into groups, to a certain
extent physically, some of them being mainly upon the Great Plateau,
whilst others occupy the Pacific or Atlantic slopes and southern
region, with their lowland and tropical conditions. In some cases,
however, some of the states partake of all the conditions of highland,
lowland, and mountain region.

These great territories, the mere names of which are often unknown to
British readers, are full of interest and variety, both as regards
their natural features and the human element which inhabits them. Names
which appear upon the map seem to the casual reader to embody the idea
of vast uninhabited deserts or bleak mountain ranges alone. They do not
come within the scope of ordinary knowledge, and the traveller entering
such places is astonished to discover beautiful cities and picturesque
towns, their inhabitants living in a state of advanced civilisation and
engaged in thriving industries, the whole being in the nature of a
revelation to his preconceived ideas of the country. We had forgotten,
or never knew, that a large productive part of the North American
continent lay in this cornucopia-shaped land of Mexico, or that single
provinces, in some instances the size of Great Britain, sleep here
under a southern sun and support a pastoral and contented population of
considerable extent. Some of them are remote from main routes of travel
and from the busy world outside them--remote but of great future
possibilities; others are valuable centres of life and industry upon
trunk lines of travel, and it will be the object of this and the
following chapter to give a succinct idea of their condition and
natural resources.

We will begin with the Maritime States which form the extensive Pacific
littoral from the frontier with the United States to that of
Guatemala--a zone of territory more than 2,000 miles long.

The great State of Sonora lies at the north-west corner of the country,
forming the littoral washed by the Gulf