Philip Lake, Andrew J. Lamoureux, Edward B. Tylor, Walter Lehmann and James S. Mann

“ To protect these adventurers and to secure for itself the largest possible share in these new sources of wealth, the Spanish crown forbade the admission of foreigners into these colonies, and then harassed them with commercial and industrial restrictions, burdened them with taxes, strangled them with monopolies and even refused to permit the free emigration thither of Spaniards. Out of such adverse conditions has developed the present population of Mexico. ”

“ At whatever date the Americans began to people America, they must have had time to import or develop the numerous families of languages actually found there, in none of which has community of origin been satisfactorily proved with any other, language-group at home or abroad. In Mexico itself the languages of the Nahua nations, of which the Aztec is the best-known dialect, show no Connexion of origin with the language of the Otomi tribes, nor either of these with the languages of the regions of the ruined cities of Central America, the Quiché of Guatemala and the Maya of Yucatan. ”

“ It was held unrighteous to invade another nation without a solemn embassy to warn their chiefs of the miseries to which they exposed themselves by refusing the submission demanded, and this again was followed by a declaration of war, but in Mexico this degenerated into a ceremonial farce, where tribute was claimed or an Aztec god was offered to be worshipped in order to pick a quarrel as a pretext for an invasion already planned to satisfy the soldiers with lands and plunder, and to meet the priests’ incessant demands for more human sacrifices. ”

“ The native history of Mexico and Central America is entitled to more respect than the mere recollections of savage tribes. The Mexican pictures so far approached writing proper as to set down legibly the names of persons and places and the dates of events, and at least helped the professional historians to remember the traditions repeated orally from generation to generation. ”

“ In the wet season the rain is quickly absorbed by the dry, porous soil; consequently there are no rivers and no lakes except near the forested region of the south-east. These exceptional conditions give to Yucatán a moderately hot, dry, and comparatively healthful climate. Another hot, dry climate is that of the tierras calientes of Sonora. The coast is low and extremely arid, and would be uninhabitable were it not for the proximity of the Sierra Madre, where a light rainfall is experienced, and for the numerous rivers that cross the arid belt between the mountains and the sea. ”

“ The lakes of Mexico are small and few in number. They may be divided into two classes; those of the plateau region which occupy lacustrine depressions and receive the drainage of the surrounding country; and the tide-water lagoons of the coast formed by the building up of new sand beaches across the indentations in the coast-line. Of the former, the best known are the lakes of the Valley of Mexico—Texcoco, Chalco, Xochimilco, Zumpango, Xaltocán and San Cristobal—which are probably the remains of a lake once occupying the whole valley. ”

“ A large part of the country is too arid for agriculture, and even with irrigation the water supply is sufficient for only a small part of the dry area. This region has, for the most part, a temperate climate, and produces wheat, barley, Indian corn and forage crops. Long droughts often destroy the wheat and Indian corn and compel their importation in large quantities to supply the people with food. This uncertainty in the wheat crop extends to the southern limits of the higher plateau, and is a serious obstacle to the increased production of this cereal. ”

“ Eventually Mexico and New Mexico came to designate the still vaster region of Spanish North America, which (till cut down by changes which have limited the modern republic of Mexico) reached as far as the Isthmus of Panama on the south and took in California and Texas on the north. Mexico in this wide sense is of high interest to the anthropologist from the several native American civilizations which appear within its limits, and which conveniently if loosely group themselves round two centres, the Mexican proper and the Central American. ”

“ The most favourable regions are those of the tierras templadas, especially on the southern slopes of the great central plateau which were thickly populated in prehistoric times.
The dissimilar races that compose the population of Mexico have not been sufficiently fused to give a representative type, which, it may be assumed, will ultimately be that of the mestizos. Mexico was conquered by a small body of Spanish adventurers, whose success in despoiling the natives attracted thither a large number of their own people. ”

“ On the Pacific side there are places where the mountain spurs extend down to the coast, but in general this lowland region ranges from 30 to 40 m. in width, except in southern Vera Cruz, Tabasco, Campeche and Yucatán, where it extends farther into the interior. The talus zone of this region, especially at elevations of 1000 to 3000 ft., is noted for its great fertility and the luxuriance of its vegetation.
There are no large islands on the coast of Mexico, and most of the smaller ones are unimportant. Many of those that fringe the Gulf coast are sand-keys, or parts of a new coast formation. ”

“ Then came the long, firm rule of Porfirio Diaz, who first broke up the organizations of bandits that infested the country, and then sought to raise Mexico from the state of discredit and disorganization into which it had fallen. Suspicion and jealousy of the foreigner is disappearing, and habits of industry are displacing the indolence and lawlessness that were once universally prevalent. ”

“ Nevertheless, part of the later Maya records may be genuine—for instance, when they relate the war about three centuries before the Spanish conquest, when the king of Chichen-Itza destroyed the great city of Mayapan. Though the Central American native kings have too little interest for traditions of them to be dwelt on here, they bring into view one important historical point—that the ruined cities of this region are not monuments of a forgotten past, but that at least some of them belong to history, having been inhabited up to the conquest, apparently by the very nations who built them. ”

“ Those of the northern plateau are small, hardy and long-lived, being bred on extensive ranges in a cooler atmosphere, and accustomed to long journeys in search of water and pasture. In the south they are larger and better nourished, owing to the permanent character of the pasturage, but are less vigorous because of the heat and insect plagues. In Yucatan the open plains, rich pasture, and comparative freedom from moist heat, insects and vampire bats, have been particularly favourable to cattle-raising, and the animals are generally rated among the best in Mexico. ”

“ The coast of Lower California is a favourite resort for the fur-bearing seal, and pearl oysters find a congenial habitat in the south waters of the Gulf. There are some good fishing-grounds on the coasts, but fishing as an organized industry does not exist. The inland waters, with the exception of Lake Chapala, have comparatively few species, but the government has introduced carp, brook-trout and salmon-trout. ”

“ Attempts to trace the architecture of Central America directly from Old-World types have not been successful, while on the other hand its decoration shows proof of original invention, especially in the imitations of woodwork which passed into sculptured ornament when the material became stone instead of wood. Thus the architectural remains, though they fail to solve the problem of the culture of the nations round the Gulf of Mexico, throw much light on it when their evidence is added to that of religion and customs. ”

“ Notwithstanding the frequency of long, destructive droughts, cattle-raising is a preferred industry among the landowners of the northern states, and especially near the American frontier. Almost total losses are frequently experienced, but the profits of a favourable year are so great that losses seldom deter ranchers from trying again. In the sierra regions of western Chihuahua and Durango, Nuevo León, Coahuila, Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosi, and the plateau states farther south, the rainfall is more abundant and the conditions more favourable. ”

“ The eastern slopes are abrupt and difficult, and are a serious impediment to communication with the coast. Rising from the open plateau half way between this range and the city of Mexico is the isolated cone of Malinche, or Malintzin (14,636 ft.) . Crossing the highest part of the Mexican Plateau is a broken series of ranges, which form the water-parting between its northern and southern slopes. To a part of these ranges has been given the name of Cordillera de Anahuac, but there is no true cordillera across this part of Mexico. ”

“ While the prairie tribes of America lived under the loose sway of chiefs and councils of old men, the settled nations of Mexico had attained to a highly organized government. This may be seen by the elaborate balance of power maintained in the federation of Mexico, Tezcuco and Tlacopan, where each king was absolute in his own country, but in war or other Government. public interests they acted jointly, with powers in something like the proportion in which they divided conquered lands and spoil, which was two-fifths each to Mexico and Tezcuco and one-fifth to Tlacopan. ”

“ The cactus is unquestionably the characteristic plant of Mexico. About one thousand species have been described, a very large percentage of which are to be found on the Mexican plateau.
Explorations by botanists of the United States Department of Agriculture have been made in many localities, in Jalisco, Zacatecas, Michoacan and Tamaulipas, but many years must elapse before the whole ground can be covered. In central and southern Mexico the mountain slopes are forested up to 12,500 to 13,500 ft., juniper bushes continuing up to 14,000 ft. ”

“ The peninsula of Lower California is traversed from north to south by a chain of barren mountains which covers the greater part of its surface. The slopes are precipitous on the east coast, but on the west they break down in hills and terraces to the Pacific. This range may be considered a southward continuation of the Californian Sierra Nevada. The great plateau of Mexico is very largely of volcanic origin. ”

“ The largest rivers of Mexico are: the Rio Grande de Santiago, called the Lerma above Lake Chapala, rising in the state of Mexico and flowing westward across Guanajuato, Jalisco and Tepic to the Pacific coast, with a total length of 540 m., celebrated for its deep canyons and waterfalls; the Rio de las Balsas, or Mescala, which rises in Tlaxcala and flows south and west to the Pacific with a course of 426 m. ”

“ Many of these primitive arts are still to be found in the more secluded districts, and perhaps the best work in pottery moulding in Mexico to-day is that of uneducated Indian artists.
Of the half-breed element which has become so important a part of the Mexican population, no safe estimate can be made. Education, industrial occupation, commercial training and political responsibility are apparently working a transformation in a class that was once known chiefly for indolence and criminal instincts, and many of the leaders of modern Mexico have sprung from this race. ”

“ Of the indigenous birds, the turkey has been fully domesticated, and the musk-duck and “chachalaca” are easily reared. Sea-fowl are most numerous on the coasts of Lower California, where certain islands in the arid belt are frequented at night by countless numbers of them. It should be added that many of the migrating birds of North America pass the winter in Mexico.
The insect fauna of Mexico covers a very wide range of genera and species which, like the other forms of animal life, is largely made up of migratory types. ”

“ The cochineal insect was once an important commercial product, but the industry has fallen into decay. The “ni-in” (also known as “axe”) is a small scale insect belonging to the genus Coccus, found in Yucatan, Oaxaca, Vera Cruz, Michoacan and other southern states, where it inhabits the spondia trees and produces a greasy substance called “ni-inea,” which is much used by the natives as a varnish, especially for domestic utensils, as it resists fire as well as water.
Mining.—The best-known and most productive of the industries of Mexico is that of mining. ”

“ The Mongolian peoples not only count their lunar months by these signs, but they reckon the successive days by them, rat-day, bull-day, tiger-day, &c., and also, by combining the twelve signs in rotation with the elements, they obtain a means of marking each year in the sixty-year cycle, as the woodrat year, the fire-tiger year, &c. This method is highly artificial, and the reappearance of its principle in the Mexican and Central American calendar is suggestive of importation from Asia. ”

“ A candidate for the presidency must be a native-born Mexican citizen in the full exercise of his political rights, 35 years of age, not an ecclesiastic, and a resident of the republic at the time of the election. Although the authority of the president is carefully defined and limited by the Constitution, the exercise of dictatorial powers has been so common that the executive may be considered practically supreme and irresponsible. Previous to the presidency of General Porfirio Diaz in 1877 political disorders and changes in government were frequent. ”

“ The tierras calientes (hot lands) of Mexico include the two coastal zones, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the states of Tabasco, Campeche, and part of Chiapas, the peninsula of Yucatán and a part of eastern Oaxaca. The mean temperature ranges from 77° to 82° F., seldom falling below 60°, but often rising to 105°, and in the sultry districts of Vera Cruz, Guaymas and Acapulco to and even above 110°. The rainfall is heavy in the south, except Yucatán, but diminishes gradually toward the north, until on the Pacific and Gulf of California coasts it almost disappears. ”

“ From the records made at the time of the Spanish conquest, and from the antiquities found in the abandoned cities of prehistoric Mexico, it is certain that the Indians lived in substantial houses, sometimes using dressed stone, inscriptions and ornamental carvings on the more pretentious edifices; they cultivated the soil, rudely perhaps, and produced enough to make it possible to live in large towns; they made woven fabrics for dress and hangings, using colours in their manufacture; they were skilful in making and ornamenting pottery, in making gold and silver ornaments, and in featherwork ”

“ Then, there are the mangrove-fringed coasts and the dripping wooded slopes where rare orchids thrive, and above these, on the inland side of the sierra, a treeless, sun-scorched table-land where only the cactus, yucca, and other coarse vegetation of the desert can thrive without irrigation. ”