Mexico is a country reaching from the Gulf on its eastern coast to the Pacific Ocean, almost 2,000 miles, with a breadth varying from 140 to 750 miles. The whole territory of Montezuma, at the time of the Spanish conquest, was not less than 1,600,000 square miles, more than one half of which has been obtained by the United States by purchase, enforced treaties, or otherwise. The plains on the coast are low, marshy, and in the summer and autumn malarial diseases are very prevalent. Strangers can visit the place with safety only about four months in the year, when severe northern gales cool the heated atmosphere and dissipate the seeds of disease.

There are 6,000 miles of coast line, but, considering its extent, it does not furnish many good harbors.

The main body of the land is an elevated plateau, traversed by chains of mountains, some of which are of extraordinary height. The eastern Cordillera, or chain, that runs nearly north from the initial point has an elevation of 6,000 feet, the western nearly 10,000. Traversing the longitudinal range, there are several cross ranges containing some of the highest volcanoes on the continent. They are all quiescent now, and none of them have been active during the present century. There are not many lakes, and none that are very large. The basins of some, though of sufficient extent, are so arid, and evaporation is carried on so rapidly that the water in them has, at times, quite disappeared. Neither are the rivers of much importance as thoroughfares. The Rio Grande, forming the boundary between Mexico and Texas, is the longest (1,500 miles), but navigable only for a short distance. Those in the mountain region are impetuous torrents, larger near their source than afterward, as they lose more by absorption, in passing through arid portions of the table-lands, than they gain by drainage, except in the rainy season. After plowing deep furrows, and cutting out immense ravines among the foot hills of the mountains, some are partly exhausted, drawn into reservoirs and canals constructed for purposes of irrigation, and spread out into sluggish bayous, of no great depth, before they reach the sea. The lack of navigable streams has been seriously felt.

Climate, other things being equal, decides the flora of a country, and in this respect Mexico has many advantages. Were the country level from the Gulf to the ocean, it would have mostly a tropical climate, and produce only the vegetation of the tropics. But, rising in successive stages to a height of 19,720 feet, the temperature changes with the elevation, and a large portion enjoys the climate of the temperate zones. The low lying region near the coast, called the “hot country,” has a rich soil, a humid atmosphere, and abundant rains, that perpetually nourish a rank tropical vegetation. At an elevation of 3,000 feet we reach a delightful zone where the extremes of heat and cold are unknown, the temperature ranging from fifty to eighty-six degrees. Here the forms of vegetable life, mingling those of the lower and upper regions, have a charming variety. Crossing this wide belt, with its luxuriance in things of surpassing beauty and usefulness, and advancing gradually till the mountains begin to show their rugged forms, at an elevation of 8,000 feet a colder climate is reached, with a corresponding change in the vegetation that now ranges from the corn, barley, and other useful cereals and hardier fruits to the cryptogamia of the mountain top. Take it all through, from coast to mountain, it is quite safe to say Mexico has a flora not excelled by any other country of the same dimensions. And it has increased with the advance of civilization. Many plants, flowering shrubs, and fruit-bearing trees that were not indigenous, but successive contributions from the Old World, have a vigorous growth, and produce abundantly. Apples, pears, peaches, cherries, oranges and grapes, with a variety of choice East India fruits, are widely distributed through the country. In the coast region, and to an elevation of about 1,500 feet, they have cotton, cocoanuts, cocoa, cloves, vanilla, nutmegs, peppers, and other spices of commerce, beside the fruits of nearly all tropical countries of the east and west. Higher up they have sugar, coffee, indigo, rice, tea, bananas, and an abundant supply of edible roots, such as yam, arrow-root, sweet potato, and all the fruits of America, Central Asia, and Barbary.

From a partial catalogue of the productions of the country there is evidence that its agricultural possibilities are very great. Nearly all fruits and grain, indeed, nearly all plants that grow, are either indigenous to the country or may find a congenial home within its limits. Some parts of the upland require irrigation to make them productive, and, if the dry season is prolonged, water must be stored in basins for the use of stock. The neglect of this, especially where the land has been long cleared, causes barrenness, and gives the country a desolate appearance.

The agriculture of the country has never been of a high order, though the Aztecs, at the time of the Spanish invasion, were an agricultural people, and about as well acquainted with the arts and processes of husbandry as most nations of the East were at that day. Having incorporated in their communities the shattered remains of the old Tolteck tribes they had acquired considerable civilization, and were not, as the invaders supposed, rude nomads, or even herdsmen, but cultivators of the soil, and fixed in the possession of their estates. Theirs was not a skillful husbandry, since necessity, mother of inventions, had not greatly improved either their methods or their instruments. They had no plows, harrows, or cultivators, but used hoes, knives, and sickles made of copper. In planting, the earth was loosened with a hoe or stick, and the seed, when dropped, covered with the foot.

The present state of agriculture, though much improved, is still very inferior, and the production, reported in the last census, $177,451,985, might, from the same areas, be greatly increased. Before the recent advent of railroads those far in the interior had no adequate means for exporting the excess of their products, and little inducement to raise more than they needed to consume.

Mexican forests furnish in abundance nearly, if not all, the useful timber trees of the north, and those valuable woods that grow only in the tropics. Some sixty varieties used for timber are mentioned, and twenty suitable for the finest style of interior finishing and furnishing.

The mines of Mexico have long been famous, and are not surpassed in richness by those of any other country in the world. Early in the fifteenth century the inhabitants had accumulated wealth from that source, and the glitter of their gold led the avaricious Spaniards to undertake the conquest of the country. Just how long the mines had been worked before the invaders came is not known. After a change of owners, and the improved methods they adopted, the product was greatly increased, and ever since, though subject to many interruptions on account of political disturbances, it has been larger than in any other country except the United States. The Spanish settlers at once engaged in working the mines of Tasco, Pachuca, Zacatecas, and Guanajuato. Cortes selected for himself and worked the gold mines of Techuantepec, and the silver mines of Zacatecas, that were found productive. The mine at Real del Monte, near the city of Mexico, has yielded largely, and enriched several successive owners. And the principal vein at Guanajuato, noted for its richness, is described as ten yards wide, and has been worked a distance of more than eight miles. In the early part of this century the annual product of these mines exceeded twenty-five million dollars, and they seem inexhaustible. The whole of the gold and silver taken from the mines of Mexico up to 1870 was estimated at $4,200,000,000. The seven principal mines of San Luis Potosi are said to be very productive, and the whole of Sinaloa abounds in silver mines. In Sonora there are one hundred and forty-four operated, chiefly producing gold, and a much larger number in which, though productive, work is suspended. Many large mining districts are simply located, and their development delayed, awaiting more ready means of access to them. That country alone, probably, could furnish the world a full supply of the precious metals for centuries, or until they become as plenty and cheap as they were in Jerusalem in the time of Solomon’s reign. Mexico has not only mines of gold and silver, but the country abounds in other minerals of no less importance. Iron, tin, copper, lead, mercury, cinnabar, and nearly all the known metals are more or less abundant. Coal is found in three or four districts, but to what extent, or of what quality we are not informed. The products of the coal fields, and their rich quarries, and of the oil belts, can be but little known till their facilities for transportation are improved.

The roads constructed as thoroughfares of travel and commerce will modify the industries of the country through which they pass. Mining and stock raising, already extensive, will be increased. Farming and farms, such as we have in the States, will be common, and, as the resources of the country become better known, many enterprising men will be attracted to the Mexican plateaux; society will improve, the reign of superstition will cease, and a free government for an intelligent Christian people, though for a time struggling against chronic tendencies to revolution, will become established, and strong as it is liberal.

Mexico encourages immigration, but, naturally enough, prefers those of the Latin race, as more like the native population. Still, having friendly relations with the United States, and greatly improved opportunities for intercourse, prejudices will be overcome, barriers that have hindered immigration taken down, and perfect liberty of conscience proclaimed through all the land, to all the inhabitants thereof.