alternate with those of the handsome and
extensive cities of the plateau and with the great mining regions, all
of which--in point of interest and value--compensate for sterility
elsewhere. As for the branch line from San Luis Potosi to Tampico, it
passes through the same remarkable tropical zone as the Vera Cruz line.
The mountain scenery upon this route is impressive, with dense woods
and fertile valleys giving place to the great canyon of Tamasopo. The
same panoramic character attends it, of luxuriant tropical conditions
spread out 1,200 feet below the train, with rushing torrents, towering
cliffs, and strange and varied topographic changes. The branch which
runs westwardly towards the Pacific Ocean from the main line, passes
through Guadalajara and descends the Western Sierra Madre towards
Colima at Tuxpan. A short distance only remains to be constructed in
order to give a completed route to Manzanillo--the port upon the
Pacific coast, which will form the terminus of what will then
constitute a new transcontinental route from the Atlantic to the
Pacific. This is an exceedingly interesting journey, but a disastrous
flood in 1906 set back the construction work. The branch line from the
Mexican Central, which runs from the City of Mexico westwardly to the
Balsas river, is destined ultimately to reach the famous seaport of
Acapulco, on the Pacific Ocean. This port, indeed, is the best harbour
on the Pacific coast of North America, after San Francisco in
California. The line, however, is still far from reaching the coast.
Cuernavaca, which is passed by this line, is some 75 miles from the
capital, and the route lies through a scenic wonderland, reaching, at
the summit of the Sierra Madre, an elevation of 10,000 feet above
sea-level, and affording a magnificent view of the City and Valley of
Mexico 2,500 feet below. Beautiful and historic, Cuernavaca was a home
of Montezuma and a famous prehistoric centre until its capture by
Cortes, and every Mexican traveller marks it as one of his objective
points. The finances of the Mexican Central Railway have been in recent
years often in an unsatisfactory state, and the consolidation of the
line with the National Railway, under Government auspices, is expected
to bring about a more favourable condition.

The National Railroad similarly traverses the great plateau, from
Laredo, upon the United States border, to the City of Mexico. It was a
subsidised narrow-gauge line, built under