arrelled
with one of the forest denizens, has caused all of them to feel the
power of its resentment.

Such are some of the features of the tropical forest that lies between
the Gulf and the Mexican mountains. But the aspect of this region is
not all wild. There are cultivated districts--settlements, though far
apart.

The forest opens, and the scene suddenly changes. Before me is a
plantation--the hacienda of a "rico". There are wide fields tilled by
peon serfs, who labour and sing; but their song is sad. Its music is
melancholy. It is the voice of a conquered race.

Yet the scene around them is gay and joyful. All but the people appears
to prosper. Vegetation luxuriates in its fullest growth. Both fruit
and flower exhibit the hues of a perfect development. Man alone seems
stunted in his outlines.

There is a beautiful stream meandering through the open fields. Its
waters are clear and cool. They are the melted snows of Orizava. Upon
its banks grow clumps of the cocoa-palm and the majestic plantain.
There are gardens upon its banks, and orchards filled with the
fruit-trees of the tropics. I see the orange with its golden globes,
the sweet lime, the shaddock, and the guava-tree. I ride under the
shade of the aguacate (_Laurus Persea_), and pluck the luscious fruits
of the cherimolla. The breeze blowing over fields carries on its wings
the aroma of the coffee-tree, the indigo-plant, the vanilla bean, or the
wholesome cacao (_Theobroma Cacao_); and, far as the eye can reach, I
see glancing gaily in the sun the green spears and golden tassels of the
sugar-cane.

Interesting is the aspect of the tropical forest. Not less so is that
of the tropical _field_.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I ride onward and inward into the land. I am gradually ascending from
the sea-level. I no longer travel upon horizontal paths, but over hills
and steep ridges, across deep valleys and ravines. The hoof of my horse
no longer sinks in light sand or dark alluvion. It rings upon rocks of
amygdaloid and porphyry. The soil is changed; the scenery has undergone
a change, and even the atmosphere that surrounds me. The last is
perceptibly cooler, but not yet cold. I am still in the _piedmont_
lands--the _tierras calientes_. The _templadas_ are yet far higher. I
am only a thousand yards or so above sea-level. I am in the
"foot-hills" of the Northern Andes.

How sudden is