capital Mexico itself. The coast-line affords few good harbours. There is no internal water communication. The roads are tracks, and trade is carried on pack-mules.

640. RACES OF MEN. More than half the population of Mexico is Red Indian; nearly all of these are tame Indians, but there are some fierce tribes in the north, akin to those of the Rocky Mountains. About half a million of the population of Mexico may be Spaniards or very nearly white. The remainder of the inhabitants are Mestizo, i.e. Spaniard and Indian mixed in varied proportions. The Negro population in Mexico never was large, and is now grown small, but there is a good deal of Negro blood among the mixed population. Many French and Germans are scattered through Mexico as petty tradesmen.

641. HISTORIC SKETCH. When Mexico first became known to the Old World, the Aztecs were the ruling race among many nations of Red Indians. They had a firmly established government, had executed pyramids and great works of irrigation, and their capital city possessed 300,000 inhabitants. But they were a cruel people with sanguinary superstitions and practising human sacrifice. Cortez conquered the Aztecs in 1521, and Mexico remained a colonial province of Spain till 1820, when, like the other Spanish colonies in America, Mexico revolted and became independent. Since that time she has had military dictators, revolutions, and national bankruptcy. In 1862 the French conquered the country and set up Maxmilian (an Austrian Prince) as Emperor. But on the withdrawal of the French army, the Mexicans got Maxmilian into their power and at once despatched him (1867). The anarchy and misery of Mexico are extreme. The exports to England were small, viz., 3,216,9247. in 1865, but they had diminished to 443,524%. in 1872.

642. PRESENT CONSTITUTION. The constitution of Mexico upon paper is a Republic, on the model of the United States. Practically the "President is a military dictator whose term of office will expire when he is shot on the occurrence of the next successful pronunciamento.

643. RELIGION. The religion of Mexico is the most superstitious form of Roman Catholicism, the people believing all kinds of fables, and the priests having great political and social influence. The wilder Indians are heathen.

644. LANGUAGE. The language of all the white and partially white Mexicans is Spanish. The Indians speak a number of different Indian languages, of which Aztec still is one.

645. ANIMALS. The jaguar, puma, and black bear are the principal wild animals of Mexico. Vast troops of horses roam, descended from horses imported by the Spaniards.

646. PLANTS. Mexico is extraordinarily rich in wild plants, comprising every clime, viz. the hot moist tropical jungles of the coast level; the sub-tropical or temperate slopes from 2,000-6,000 feet; the temperate-open tableland at 6,000—8,000, and the upper zone from 8,000 feet to the snow-line on the mountains. We have therefore palms, bamboos, gingers, at the coast level; oaks and pines at 7,000 feet, and alpine herbs near the snow.

Mexico is for the same reason adapted for nearly all cultivated plants. Maize cultivated on the central plateau at 6,000-8,000 feet elevation is the staple food of the people; but very numerous other plants are cultivated, as the banana, cacao, and sugar-cane, at the lowest levels; cotton, cassava, the vine and orange, somewhat higher up. Few countries are naturally richer than Mexico, and under the desolating effects of the present government fruit and vegetables of excellent quality yet abound in the market of Mexico.

647. MINERALS. For ages Mexico was regarded as the richest country of the world in gold and silver mines; and it also possesses copper, tin, and quicksilver. Previously to the war of 1821 Mexico produced 5,000,000l. of the precious metals annually, but it has produced little since. There is no reason to suppose that the mines are exhausted. But capital cannot be embarked in Mexico, which now owes about 60,000,000l. and pays none of the interest due thereon.

648. TOWNS. (1) Mexico, the capital, containing 150,000 inhabitants, situate on a plain on the table-land at an elevation of 7,500 feet above the sea. Close by is a lake,

celebrated in history, and in full view about fifteen miles off is the line of volcanoes.

(2) Puebla, population 75,000, on the old high road from Mexico to Vera Cruz.

Sect. L. CENTRAL REPUBLICS.

649. EXTENT. The area of the Central Republics is greater than that of Britain and Ireland; the population is estimated at two millions.

on the

650. BOUNDARIES. On the North, Mexico; East, the Gulf of Mexico (and British Honduras); on the South, Colombia; on the West, the Pacific.

651. MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. The table-land of Mexico extends southwards, but becomes lower till, along a line that runs through Lake Nicaragua, there is a road from the Atlantic to the Pacific that hardly rises 170 feet above sea-level.

In the northern part of the plateau, near Mexico, are numerous volcanoes, some attaining 13,000 feet in height : and the whole district is liable to frequent and severe earthquakes.

The climate about the isthmus of Panama is one of the most malarious in the world; and the whole country along the coasts both of the Atlantic and Pacific is moist, hot, and unhealthy; on the plateau above 4,000 feet the climate is excellent.

652. COMMUNICATIONS. There is a railway from Aspinwall, the port on the Atlantic, to Panama on the Pacific; a very large trade, between the Old World and the west coast of the New from Oregon to Peru, passes by this route.

653. RACES OF MEN. The population contains few whites (Spaniards), many Red Indians, and a large number of Mestizos; they resemble in all respects the Mestizos of Mexico, and are an equally worthless race.

654. HISTORIC SKETCH. The whole of Central America was claimed by Spain up to 1820, though the wars of Walpole and Pitt with Spain both largely turned on the English right to cut logwood in the Bay of Campeachy. This right was allowed by the Treaty of Paris, and the English Government protected tribes of Mosquito Indians down to 1860. The English withdrew from Central America to satisfy the jealousy of the American Government, but still retain British Honduras.

As to the Spaniards, Central America, like Mexico, in 1820-23 revolted from Spain, since which time the country has had no settled government. At the present moment (1877) Central America is divided into five separate States, as follows:

Their names are not worth learning, for a State in this part of the world rarely lasts many years.

Central America is exceedingly rich in vegetable and mineral products, much as Mexico. Hence is chiefly derived our supply of mahogany and logwood. Honduras, a Republic not able to pay 100,000l. by a national confiscation, lately succeeded in inducing English capitalists to advance nearly 3,000,000l. secured on the boundless forests of mahogany of Honduras. No doubt these capitalists may cut mahogany in the uninhabited deadly jungles of Honduras, but they do not now expect ever to see again one shilling of their capital. Central America is in fact bankrupt, like nearly all the other old Spanish colonies and Spain

herself.

Sect. LI. BRITISH HONDURAS.

655. British Honduras is an English Settlement on the coast of Yucatan, and has formed an independent colony since 1853. How far the British territory extends back into the jungles is not determined. The area claimed as British is 13,500 square miles; many maps show 50,000 square miles as British.

The chief town and port is Eelize, built nearly entirely of wood, whence mahogany and logwood are exported. There are many Negroes in British Honduras.

Sect. LII. THE WEST INDIA ISLANDS.

656. EXTENT. The West India Islands have a total area exceeding that of Britain, with a population exceeding that of Scotland.

657. CLIMATE. The climate is tropical, tempered by the great area of sea in which the islands lie. It is much healthier than that of the coast of America near it. The islands are excellently adapted for the growth of maize, sugar-cane, tobacco, rice, and cacao; and also produce in abundance many tropical fruits, as custard-apple, pineapples, guavas, &c. The vegetation of the forests is most luxuriant. Nearly the whole archipelago is subject to hurricanes and to earthquakes.

658. MOUNTAINS. The highest mountains in Cuba, Jamaica, and Hayti attain 7,000 feet in altitude, and in these larger islands it is possible to live in a temperate climate at 4,000 feet elevation, In the mountains of Cuba copper is raised, otherwise there is little mining.

659. RACES OF MEN. The indigenous races of the islands were on their discovery closely allied to those on the mainland, but these absolutely disappeared before the Europeans, by reason partly of oppression, partly of new diseases