s of the Sierra reach the height of 8,300 feet and 9,250
feet. The principal river is the Balsas, which flows for a very
considerable distance from the east of the Cordillera or Sierra--more
than 1,200 miles from its source to its outlet in the Pacific. It is
navigable for about 150 miles for launches and other small craft.

The climate varies greatly upon the coast, excessive heat being
encountered, ranging thence through the temperate zone up to the
exceeding cold of the mountains. The state as a whole is healthy, and
the mountain breezes bracing, but the coast is subject to the usual
_paludismo_ or malarial fevers of Western America generally. _Pinto_,
the curious mottled skin disease, is encountered in some of the
valleys: as in Morelos.

Of railways there are none, the main route of travel from the City of
Mexico to Acapulco having been, ever since the time of Cortes, a
mountain track, the _Camino Real_, of difficult transit. Various
projects to reach Acapulco by rail have been put forward, but none
consummated so far, the nearest rail point being that of the terminus
of the Mexican Central Railway on the Balsas river.

The principal products of the state attest its varied and profuse
natural resources; sugar-cane, rubber, coffee, cotton, cocoa, cereals,
are among these, whilst the extensive forests afford a great variety of
timber. Oak grows abundantly. Mining is an important industry. The
historic mines of Taxco, mentioned elsewhere, are situated in the
district of that name near the picturesque town of Taxco; and the
quicksilver mines of Ahuituzco, and the iron deposits of Chilpancingo,
the capital, are notable occurrences of the rich mineral zone of this
state. There can be no doubt that the future holds much in store
commercially for Guerrero, and, indeed, recently much attention has
been drawn to it as a field for enterprise, both by British and
American capitalists. The state is unique in its resources of huge
forests, iron and quicksilver mines, whilst it is traversed by the
longest of Mexico's rivers, and possesses thousands of square miles of
unexplored territory. The prehistoric ruins which are encountered in
such large numbers, and the remarkable number of aboriginal tribes
which inhabit it, speaking various languages, render it of much
interest ethnologically.

Oaxaca, the Pacific littoral state next adjoining Guerrero, is a region
of much interest, both historically and topographically. The charac