Gulf of Mexico

“ In the severest of droughts it never fails, and in the mightiest floods it never overflows. Its banks and its bottom are of cold water, while its current is of warm. The Gulf of Mexico is its fountain, and its mouth is in the Arctic Seas. It is the Gulf Stream. There is in the world no other such majestic flow of waters. Its current is more rapid than the Mississippi or the Amazon. ”

“ Moreover, he came in ignorance of what he was to find, with a blind desire for conquest, investing the region he approached with imaginary attractions. We know beforehand, as we begin to explore the country, that its legends and romances are as fascinating as its mines are deep; that its story is as picturesque as the lofty ranges and deep rolling valleys which make the charm of its scenery.
An inhospitable coast borders the treacherous, though beautiful, Gulf of Mexico. ”

“ A geographical necessity as vast and potent now links the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The struggle is a more gigantic one, and in its fierce convulsions men's minds may well lose their present balance, and men's hearts their calm courage. ”

“ Around the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea there is a wide belt of rather shallow water, and during the alternate elevations and subsidences to which this region has been subjected, the newly raised land would afford a route for the passage of immigrants between North and South America. ”

“ So we may accept the lesser evil in view of the greater blessings that it brings, and rejoice that Northers rage in the Gulf of Mexico.
The reason why this storm prevents a landing is that there is no real harbor here, and the situation of the port is such that the north wind drives the waves straight on and over the mole, its only dock, which is a few hundred feet long. The waters rise and roll over this wharf, and prevent all landing. ”

“ As the islanders melted away before their taskmasters, slave-hunting expeditions were fitted out by the planters to ravage other islands in search of new victims. It was during one of these slave-hunts that the Gulf of Mexico was discovered. Francisco Hernandez de Cordova, a Spanish planter in Cuba, was on his way to the Bahamas after a cargo of slaves, when a fearful storm drove the vessel far out of her course toward the west. After tossing about for three weeks he landed on the coast of Yucatan. He found there a people very different from the islanders among whom he had lived. ”

“ Vera Cruz, which is at present the principal seaport of the republic, and which has heretofore been considered as the gateway of Mexico, is without a harbor worthy of the name, being situated on an open roadstead and affording no safe anchorage among its shoals, coral reefs, and surf. It is not safe, in fact, for vessels to moor within half a mile of the shore. A cluster of dangerous, merciless-looking reefs, together with the island of San Juan d'Ulloa, form a slight protection from the open Gulf. ”

“ Perhaps no countries are more difficult for full and minute description, in their present social state, than Mexico and the South American nations. Mexico, as we have seen, is a mountain country, with very few navigable streams opening the interior to travellers, and with badly constructed roads, which were scarcely adequate for the most needful transportation required for the subsistence of the people. As soon as the way-farer left the coasts of the Gulf or of the Pacific he penetrated the glens of lofty mountains, or slowly toiled along the inclined plains of their precipitous sides. ”

“ With a view to such formidable invasion, of which we should never lose sight, and of the great objects to which it would be directed, I think that very strong works at some point within the Gulf of Mexico will be found indispensable. ”

“ It is now clear that the greatest development in Mexico may take place from the coast and through her oil wealth. From the Rio Grande to Tampico the Gulf coast of Mexico is largely an unpenetrated jungle, rich in natural resources and capable of maintaining a population of many millions. ”

“ In no country in the world is it possible to move from one extreme of climate to the other in so short a time as in Mexico. Within less than twenty-four hours one can travel from the sun-baked sands of the Gulf coast to the snow-covered, conical peak of one of the great extinct volcanoes, thus traversing every zone of vegetable life from the dense tropical growth of the former to the stunted pines of the latter. ”

“ Situated at a commanding point on the Gulf of California, Guaymas should control, with its unequalled connections with the United States, all the trade of the upper Gulf. One may voyage, even now, down the coast, to Mazatlan and Acapulco; and over across the Gulf, almost within sight, is Lower California, a fabled land of riches, but of hostile shores and desert interior. The vast Bay of Guaymas is ever alive with fish, and its oysters are reputed excellent ”

“ Bold explorers, guided by intelligence received from the Indians, had even penetrated the interior of the isthmus, and from the summit of the central mountain barrier had [Pg 19] gazed with delight upon the placid waves of the Pacific. But the vast indentation of the Mexican Gulf, sweeping far away in an apparently interminable circuit to the west, had not yet been penetrated. The field for romantic adventure which these unexplored realms presented could not, however, long escape the eye of that chivalrous age.
Mexico is discovered.
Arts and sciences of the Mexicans. ”

“ Pacific coast — Soconusco, maritime and frontier, Tonala, Salina Cruz, Puerto Angel, Acapulco, Manzanillo, San Blas, Mazatlan, Altata, Guaymas, La Paz, Cabo de San Lucas, Bahía de la Magdalena, Todos Santos. Gulf of Mexico — Matamoros, maritime and frontier, Tampico, Tuxpam, Vera Cruz, Coatzacoalco, Frontero, Isla del Carmen, Campeche, Progreso. North frontier — Tijuana, Quitovaquita, Nogales, Sásabe, Palominas, Ascencion, Paso del Norte, Piedras Negras, Loredo, Guerrero, Mier, and Camargo. South frontier — Zacatula. In 1884 an inspector-generalship of frontier custom-houses was created. ”

“ Mexico has a population. of ten or eleven millions, being about half that of ours; and this population is spread over a territory one-third larger than that of the United States. A nation which acts upon the defensive, has always an advantage over the invaders. Nature has also guarded Mexico at almost every point. If we attack her from the Gulf, we have to encounter all the perils of a dangerous sea and a pestilential shore. If we attempt to penetrate into her country, we meet with her arid plains and dangerous mountain passes—bulwarks prepared by Nature for her defence. ”