the plantations; and white-clad _peones_, hoe in hand, tend the
long furrows whose parallel lines are lost in perspective. Centre of
the whole panorama is the dwelling-house of the _hacendado_, the owner
of the lands; and almost of the bodies and souls of the inhabitants!
Quaint and old-world, the place and its atmosphere transport the
imagination to past centuries, for the aspect of the whole still bears
the stamp of its mediaeval beginning, save where the new Mexican
millionaire-landowner has planted some luxurious abode, replete with
modern convenience.

But these are not isolated from the world upon this Great Plateau so
much as might appear at first glance. There is a puff of smoke upon the
horizon, and the whistle of a locomotive strikes upon the ear. The
railway which links this great oasis of cultivated fields with others
similar, and with the world beyond, runs near at hand, and will bear
us, do we wish it, away to the confines of the Republic in the north,
to the United States, and in five days to New York. Southwards it winds
away to the great capital City of Mexico, to Vera Cruz, and thence on
towards the borders of Guatemala. But let us avoid the railway yet. Not
thus, in the comfort of the Pullman cushions, do we know the spirit and
atmosphere of Mexico; but the saddle and the dusty road shall be our
self-chosen portion. Indeed, it will be so from sheer necessity, for
our way will lie onwards to the Pacific Ocean, and no railway of the
plateau quite reaches this yet.

Throughout the Great Plateau of Anahuac, separated by long stretches of
dusty wilderness, unclothed except by scanty thorny shrubs, and
scarcely inhabited except by the _coyote_ and the _tecolote_,[2] are
handsome cities with their surrounding cultivation and characteristic
life. As we top the summit of a range and behold these centres of
population from afar, a bird's-eye view and philosophical comprehension
of their _ensemble_ is obtained. Seen from the outside, they present a
picturesque view of cathedral spires and gleaming domes and white
walls; the towers rising from the lesser buildings amid groves of
verdant trees, forming a striking group, all backed by the blue range
of some distant sierra. The main group shades off into a fringe of
_jacales_--the squalid habitations of the _peones_, and of the city's
poor and outcast, with rambling, dusty roads bordered by hedges of
prickly pear, or _nopales_; picturesque, quaint, the roads ankle-