# Mexico in 1827/Volume 1/Chapter 1

MEXICO IN 1827.
BOOK I.
SECTION I.
BOUNDARIES.—GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE. CLIMATE.
The Republic of Mexico, which comprises the whole of the vast territory formerly subject to the Viceroyalty of New Spain, is bounded to the East and South-east by the Gulph of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea; to the West by the Pacific; to the South by Guatemala, which occupies a part of the Isthmus of Darien; and to the North by the United States.
The exact line which separates the provinces of Las Chiapas and Tabasco from the territory of Guatemala, has not yet been fixed, but is at present the subject of amicable discussion between the two governments. To the North, the frontier is defined, with sufficient exactness, by the treaty of ​Washington, the validity of which, since the declaration of Independence, has been tacitly acknowledged both by Mexico, and the United States.
According to the third article of this treaty, the boundary line between Mexico and Louisiana (then ceded by Spain to the United States) commences with the River Sabinas, which runs into the Gulph of Mexico, about lat. 29, West long. 94, and follows its course as far as its junction with the Red River of Natchitoches, which then serves to mark the frontier up to the 100th degree of West longitude, where the line runs directly North to the River Arkansas, which it follows to its source, in the 42d degree of North latitude, from whence another direct line is drawn (immediately upon the forty-second parallel) to the coast of the Pacific; thus dividing between the two rival republics the whole Northern continent of America, with the exception of the British Colonies.
A reference to the accompanying map will explain this seemingly complicated arrangement, which at present is of but little importance, except with regard to the Eastern coast; as between the frontier established, and the last settlements of the Americans and Mexicans to the North and West, a vast space intervenes, tenanted only by Indian tribes, who have never yet been subdued, and over whom ​neither of the two governments possesses the slightest authority. With the exception of a narrow belt of missions in New California, on the Western coast, which terminates with the port of San Francisco in lat. 36, and the isolated province of New Mexico, the capital of which (Santa Fé) is situated in the same parallel as San Francisco, the whole country contained between 28° and 42° of North latitude, is unappropriated by any white population, and almost unknown; and centuries must elapse before the civilization of America can increase sufficiently to give it any value. It will, probably, be one of the last strong holds of man in a semibarbarous state; for it is in this direction that the Indians, who have been driven from the valley of the Missisippi by the rapid emigrations, which have taken place, during the last twenty years, from the old Atlantic Anglo-American states, are now retiring.*
On the North-eastern frontier the case is different, for there the rich and beautiful province of Texas might prove a source of contention, did not the two governments wisely determine to remove all motives of difference, by abiding by that ​arrangement, to which (directly or indirectly) each has already given its consent.
It will be perceived, by this sketch of the Mexican territory, that, at the two most distant points of S.S.E. and N.N.W. (the southern extremity of Yucatan, and the boundary line, where it runs into the Pacific,) it extends over twenty-seven degrees of latitude, or 1876½ English statute miles. Its greatest breadth is in the parallel of 30 N. lat. where, from the Red River (Rio Colorado) of Texas, to the coast of Sŏnōră, Humboldt gives the distance at 364 leagues, of twenty-five to the degree.
Nothing can be more imperfect as yet, than our acquaintance with this vast country. Few even of the principal towns and rivers are correctly laid down, and consequently not even the elements of a good map exist. Humboldt has done much towards correcting the errors which prevailed before his time, but his personal observations were confined to a comparatively small circle, and upon those of others he could not rely. A little time, however, will now add considerably to our stock of information; for amongst the foreigners who are at present exploring the Mexican territory, there are some scientific men, who employ their leisure hours in taking observations, and tracing their route through the various parts of the country, which their avocations oblige them to visit. ​The result of their inquiries, when combined with the statistical information which the governments of the different States are labouring to collect, and the military surveys of the Estado Mayor, will be extremely valuable; and many years will, probably, not elapse, before the interior of Mexico will be as well known as that of most countries in the Old World.
The territory of Mexico presents, according to Humboldt, a surface of 118,478 square leagues, of twenty-five to the degree; but this estimate does not include the space between the Northern extremity of New Mexico and Sŏnōră, and the boundary line, as fixed more recently by the treaty of Washington, the extent of which is not yet well ascertained. Thirty-six thousand five hundred square leagues, comprising the states of Zăcătēcăs, Guădălajāră, Guănăjūātŏ, Vāllăadŏolīd, Mēxĭcŏ, La Pūēblă, Vĕrăcrūz, Oăxācă, and Mērĭdă, are within the Tropics, or, what is usually denominated, the torrid zone; while New Mexico, Dŭrāngŏ, New and Old California, Sŏnōră, and a great part of the old Intendancy of San Luis Pŏtŏsī, containing, in all,
. ​82,000 square leagues, are without the Tropics, or under the temperate zone. The whole extent of the Republic is equal to one-fourth of Europe, or to France, Austria, Spain, Portugal, and Great Britain, put together; and the difference of latitude alone, on so enormous a surface, would naturally have the effect of causing considerable changes in the temperature of the more distant points.
It is not, however, to this circumstance, so much as to the peculiarity of its geological structure, that Mexico owes that singular variety of climate, by which it is distinguished from most other countries of the world.
To this I must call the particular attention of my readers, as, without a right understanding of its causes, a great part of the present sketch would prove unintelligible.
The Cordillera of the Andes, after traversing the whole of South America and the Isthmus of Panama, separates into two branches on entering the Northern continent, which, diverging to the East and West, but still preserving their direction towards the North, leave in the centre an immense platform, or Table-land, intersected by the higher points and ridges of the great mountain chain by which it is supported, but raised, in the more central parts, to the enormous height of seven thousand feet above the level of the sea.
This elevation it loses, in part, on its approach ​to the North, by the gradual disappearance of the Eastern branch of the Andes, which sinks nearly to a level with the ocean, about the 216th parallel of North latitude, as if to make way for those mighty rivers by which Tēxăs, Louisiana, and the Flŏrīdăs are watered: but to the West, the Cordillera continues in an almost uninterrupted line, through Dŭrāngŏ and Sŏnōră, towards the frontiers of the United States, where it splits into various ramifications, until its course is lost in the unknown regions of the North.
Upon the whole of this Table-land, the effect of geographical position is neutralized by the extreme rarification of the air; while upon the Eastern and Western declivities it resumes its natural influence as it approaches the level of the sea, until the strip or belt of flat country which extends from the base of the Cordillera to the ocean, is subject to the same degree of heat as that which prevails in the East or West Indies, or any other country similarly exposed to the rays of a tropical sun.
Thus Mēxĭcŏ, Guănăjūātŏ, Zăcătēcăs, and the other great towns upon the central plateau, enjoy a temperature entirely different from that of Vĕrăcrūz, Tămpīco, Ăcăpūlcŏ and Săn Blās, which are situated nearly in the same parallels on the Eastern and Western coasts; while the intervening space is filled up with almost every possible modification of heat.
On the ascent from Vĕrăcrūz, climates (to use ​Humboldt's expression) succeed each other in layers, (se suivent par couches;) and the traveller passes in review, in the course of two days, the whole scale of vegetation.
The parasitic plants of the Tropics are exchanged at a very early period for the evergreen oak, and the deadly atmosphere of Vĕrăcrūz, for the sweet, mild air of Jălāpă: a little farther, the oak gives place to the fir; the air becomes more piercing; the sun, though it scorches, has no longer the same deleterious effect upon the human frame; and nature assumes a new and peculiar aspect. With a cloudless sky, and a brilliantly pure atmosphere, there is a great want of moisture, and little luxuriancy of vegetation: vast plains follow each other in endless succession, each separated from the rest by a little ridge of hills, which intersect the country at regular intervals, and appear to have formed, at some distant period, the basins of an immense chain of lakes. Such, with some slight variations, is the character of the Table-land from Mexico to Chĭhūāhuă. Wherever there is water, there is fertility; but the rivers are few, and insignificant, in comparison with the majestic streams of the United States; and, in the intervals, the sun parches, in lieu of enriching the soil. High and barren plains occupy but too large a portion of the centre of the country, between Zăcătēcăs, Dŭrāngŏ and Săltīllŏ; nor does nature recover her wonted vigour, until the streams, which gradually filter from the Cordillera, ​are sufficiently formed to dispense moisture on their passage to the ocean. As the Eastern branch of the Cordillera disappears, or rather recedes towards the West, the space fertilized by these streams becomes more extensive; until in Texas, a country low, but well wooded, and rich in beautiful rivers, takes the place of the dreary Steppes of the interior.
The Rio Grande de Sāntĭāgŏ, which traverses the Băxīŏ, and empties itself into the Pacific, near San Blas, and the Rio Bravo del Norte, which enters the Gulph of Mexico in 26 North lat., are the two principal rivers of the Table-land: the last, indeed, hardly merits that title, as it pursues its course over a part of the country where the Eastern Cordillera is lost; but the first rises in the very centre of Mexico, and the district through which it passes is amongst the richest of the known world.
Humboldt gives 25 degrees of the centigrade thermometer (or 76 of Farenheit) as the mean heat of the coast, and 17° centigrade (64 Farenheit) as that of the Table-land. But, in a country so extensive as Mexico, any general theory upon this subject must be liable to great exceptions. A situation, so sheltered as to give additional force to the reflected rays of the sun, or too much exposed to the winds of the North-west, which sweep the country, at times, with incredible violence; a ​nearer approach to the Pacific side, (where the air is perceptibly milder;) the want, or abundance, of water; all these are circumstances which affect the temperature in the most opposite manner, even at the same height, and in the same parallel; and thus render it impossible, by the standard of elevation alone, to form any exact idea of the climate of the Table-land. Humboldt mentions the valley of Rio Verde, where sugar is raised with success at near four thousand feet above the degree of elevation which previous experiments had induced him to fix, as productive of the minimum of heat requisite for its cultivation; and I have myself seen a little spot, in the vicinity of Guădălajāră, which presents a similar phenomenon. In addition to these local peculiarities, which occur without there being any sensible difference in point of elevation to occasion them, every little break or descent in the surface of the Table-land, leads as naturally to an increase of heat, as the ascent from the coast does to a diminution of it. The transition is sometimes extremely sudden, for a deep ravine, or căñādă, is sufficient to occasion it. Thus, in the Căñādă of Qŭerētărŏ, and in the famous Barranca of Rēglă, at Real del Monte, both of which are situated in the centre of the Table-land, and nearly upon the same level as the Capital, a few-hundred yards change the face of nature entirely. ​The luxuriancy of Tropical vegetation replaces the stunted growth peculiar to the central plateau; the birds assume a more variegated plumage; the inhabitants a more relaxed and indolent expression; and the whole scene the characteristics of another world.
that whenever applied by the inhabitant of any one place to the temperature of any other, it implied an increase, and not a diminution, of heat. Thus, Jălāpă would certainly be called Tierra templada, by a native of Mexico, although Mexico might not perhaps be so termed by a native of Jalapa; while both would be designated in the same way by an inhabitant of Tierra fria, to whose district nature has assigned a degree of warmth much inferior to that of either of the other two.
Notwithstanding the arbitrary manner in which these terms are used, I shall frequently employ them in the course of this work; for, until a barometrical survey of the whole country has been executed, and the relative height of the principal points fixed, it would require a tedious explanation to give the ideas which the words Tierra caliente, and Tierra templada, are sure to convey. In order to illustrate still farther the peculiar character of the country, of which I fear that no words can furnish an adequate idea, I subjoin a sketch of Mexico, which, supposing it a bird's-eye-view, without any pretensions to geographical accuracy, may serve to show the relative position of the Tierra caliente and the Table-land, and to explain the variety of climate in the intermediate space.
The former division of New Spain into what was denominated the "Kingdom of Mexico," and the Eastern and Western Internal provinces, was never very distinct, and is now of little importance; ​as the Republic is distributed, under the present system, into States, of which the Federal government is composed. These states are nineteen in number, and commence to the South, with the Peninsula of Yŭcătān or Mērĭdă to the East; and Tăbāscŏ, Las Chĭāpăs, and Ŏăxācă to the South and West; which are followed in regular succession towards the North by Vĕrăcrūz, Tămăulīpăs, San Luis Pŏtŏsī, Nuevo Lĕōn, Cŏăhūilă, and Tēxăs, which comprise the whole territory to the frontiers of the United States, on the Gulph side: La Pūēblă, Mēxĭcŏ, Vāllădŏlīd, Guădălajāră, Sŏnōră, and Cĭnăloă, the Western extremities of which border on the Pacific; and Qŭerētărŏ, Guănăjūātŏ, Zăcătēcăs, Dŭrāngŏ, Chĭhūāhuă, and New Mexico, which occupy the centre of the country, and extend, between the two oceans, towards the Northern frontier. Beyond these again, are Old and New California, (which in some maps is called New Albion,) and the Indian territory, the extent and inhabitants of which are almost equally unknown. The two Californias and New Mexico are not yet admitted to the rank of independent States, their population not entitling them to be represented in the Congress. Each of the others returns a quota of deputies, in proportion to the number of its inhabitants.
As it is the general character of the country, and not that of particular States, that forms the subject under consideration in the present chapter, I shall reserve for another part of my work the statistical ​details which I collected during my visit to the Interior, and proceed to point out here a few of the circumstances, by which the fate of Mexico, as a country, is most likely to be influenced.
Nature has bestowed upon her a soil teeming with fertility, and a climate, under which almost every production of the Old, and the New World finds the exact degree of heat necessary in order to bring it to perfection. But the peculiarity of structure, in which this variety of climate originates, neutralizes, in some measure, the advantages which the country might otherwise derive from it, by rendering the communication between the Table-land and the coast extremely difficult, and confining, within very narrow limits, the intercourse of the States in the interior with each other. On the Table-land there are no canals, (with the exception of that from Chalco to Mexico, about seven leagues in extent,) and no navigable rivers; nor does the nature of the roads allow of a general use of wheel-carriages; every thing is therefore conveyed on mules, from one point to another, and this mode of carriage, when applied to the more bulky agricultural produce of the country, increases, enormously, the price of the articles of most general consumption, before they can reach the principal markets. Thus, in the Capital, which draws its supplies from a circle of perhaps sixty leagues, comprising the valley of Mexico, and the fertile plains of Tŏlūcă, as well as the great corn lands of the Băxīŏ and La Pūēblă, wheat, ​barley, straw, maize, and wood, are not only dear, but the supply is uncertain; while in the districts immediately beyond this circle, but which, from their distance, are excluded from the market, the same articles are a mere drug, and may be purchased at a fraction of the price.
The same effect is produced in the vicinity of each of the great towns of the interior, and more particularly of the mining districts, where, from the number of animals employed, the demand is very great. But for the mass of the produce of the country there is no home-market, and therefore no encouragement for industry, beyond the production of the mere necessaries of life.
On the Table-land, there is no doubt that this disadvantage may, to a certain extent, be removed, and distant points be brought more into contact, by the establishment of lines of road, traversing the country from North to South, or even of canals, as soon as the civilization and population of the Republic are sufficiently advanced for the attempt. The nature of the ground would rather favour than oppose the project; but to the East, and West, the obstacles to be overcome are very serious. On the Eastern side, particularly, the descent from the Table-land is so precipitous, that it appears to me very questionable whether it be ​possible to construct a road sufficiently good to open a communication with the coast to the land-owners of the Table-land; I mean, such a communication as would enable them to bring their produce into the West Indian, or even the European market, at the same price as the flour from the United States. It is true, that from the extraordinary ratio of increase, and the lowness of wages in Mexico, a greater expense in conveyance might be borne; but as the Americans are already in possession of the market, that expense must be so far reduced, as to lower the price of Mexican wheat, in the first instance, to something below that, at which it can be offered by the farmers of Kentucky, and the Anglo-American Western States.
To ascertain, and accomplish this, (if practicable,) should be the great object of the Mexican government; as nothing could have so immediate an effect upon the general interests of the country. The vessels by which Mexico is now supplied with European manufactures, return in ballast, or obtain, with difficulty, a cargo of Campeche wood, or coffee; in default of which, remittances are made in specie alone. Roads, if constructed with success, as Baron Humboldt, and many other scientific men, are of opinion that they may be, would give quite a different character to trade, by furnishing a mass of raw produce for exportation, which would, at once, increase the consumption of the country, (by giving a value to property, which has now, comparatively, ​none,) and the advantages of the foreign merchant, by enabling him to invest his profits immediately in a second venture. Towards this, as yet, nothing has been done. The proposals made by foreign houses of respectability, in 1825, for the establishment of a line of roads between Vera Cruz and the Capital, were not taken advantage of, because the government conceived that the mania for foreign investments in England would last forever; and when, in 1826, it perceived its error, no foreign capitalist would advance a shilling towards the attempt. With the exception, therefore, of some temporary improvements, made by the Real del Monte Company for the conveyance of its steam-engines, the principal communication with the coast is now in the same state as in 1815, when the great stone-causeway, built by the merchants of Vera Cruz in 1803, was destroyed by the insurgents, in order to cut off the intercourse between the Peninsula, and the Spanish Authorities, and merchants, in the Capital. When this is thoroughly repaired, and continued across the Table-land into the vicinity of the corn lands of La Puebla, it may be expected to produce a great change in the agricultural prosperity of the country, if the opinions of those, who think it possible to bring Mexican flour into the Havanna market, at a lower price than that of the United States, prove to be correct. I am myself inclined to question the probability of Mexico ever finding a source of wealth in the exportation of her Cerealia, or, as it would be termed ​in the United States, her bread stuffs; and this, not from any deficiency in the power of producing, to almost any extent, but from the want of a market for the produce when raised. The consumption of the West Indian Islands is extremely limited, and most European nations have been endeavouring, for some years, to render themselves independent of external supplies, by growing a sufficiency of corn for home consumption. The effects which have been produced already by this system upon the United States, prove how little reliance Mexico can place upon the foreign market. The exports of bread stuffs from the United States, amounted in 1817, to 20,388,000 dollars; in 1821, to 5,296,000, (vide Mellish's United States;) and the consequence of this sudden falling off would have been inevitable ruin to the grain-growing states, had they not, instantly, turned to manufactures the capital, and the population, which agriculture had before employed. But the necessity for doing this, in a country where internal navigation afforded to the landowner every facility for disposing of his produce, holds out but little encouragement to the proprietors of a country, where no such facilities exist, to attempt to bring into the market produce of a similar description, however well adapted the nature of the soil may be for its growth.
I do not, therefore, conceive that the exportations of Mexico in corn will ever be very considerable; but in those articles, which we term Colonial ​produce, for which there is a constant demand in Europe, and which a large portion of her territory is so admirably qualified to produce, she has a source of wealth as inexhaustible as her mines themselves. The whole Eastern coast of Mexico, extending, in length, from the River Guăsăcūalco to the Northern frontier, and, in breadth, from the ocean, to that point upon the slope of the Cordillera, at which Tropical fruits cease to thrive, is susceptible of the very highest cultivation; nor can any part of the now exhausted islands sustain a competition with the fertility of its virgin soil.
The state of Vera Cruz alone is capable of supplying all Europe with sugar. Humboldt estimates the produce of its richest mould at 2800 kilogrammes per hectare, while that of Cuba does not exceed 1400 kilogrammes; so that the balance is as two to one in favour of Vera Cruz.
Coffee is produced in a ratio almost equally extraordinary. Indigo and tobacco succeed as well, while, a little to the North, the state of Texas, which enjoys nearly the same climate as Louisiana, or South Carolina, is equally well adapted to the growth of cotton, the great staple of the United States. Mexico can never want a market for these more precious articles, to which the attention of the landowners is now much turned. Immense coffee plantations have been made, during the last four years, in the vicinity of Cōrdŏvă and Ŏrĭzāva; cotton has been planted, to a considerable extent, by the American ​colonists in Texas; and the reestablishment of crushing-mills for the cane, which now grows almost spontaneously throughout Vera Cruz, will be one of the first effects of the recovery of the country from that state of absolute stagnation, into which every thing has been thrown, during the last fifteen years, by the civil war.
The prospect of so abundant a supply of many of those articles, which have, hitherto, been regarded as the luxuries of life, is interesting to Europe, and to Great Britain in particular. There can be no doubt, that the opening of the American continent will have the effect of rendering almost universal the use of many things, which have long been confined to the privileged few; while the more general consumption of these very articles in the Old World, will lead to a more general use of European manufactures in the New, among people, who have, hitherto, been excluded from the benefits of civilization.
No better proof of this can be given, than the change which I have myself witnessed, in the course of three years, in the habits and appearance of the lower classes in Mexico. Before the Revolution, the streets of the capital were infested with a race of naked lazzaroni, whose numbers were supposed to amount to nearly twenty thousand, and who were, at once, the disgrace, and the bane, of all public places. This class has now almost totally disappeared; clothing has become so common, that none ​appear without it. In the mining districts, a similar change has occurred; and as the resources of the country develope themselves, there is little doubt that it will gradually spread into the most remote provinces.
Mexico cannot, during the present century, be a manufacturing country, and, probably, will not attempt it. Her mines, and her agriculture, will enable her, with only common industry, to enjoy all the advantages of Transatlantic arts, and to bring to her own door the luxuries of the highest civilization. With the necessaries of life she is abundantly provided within herself, as will be seen by the following sections, which will contain a general account of her population, and productions.
A great maritime power she likewise cannot be, for her ports, on the Atlantic side, are barely sufficient for the purposes of commerce, and were, certainly, never intended by nature for naval depôts. Most of them are insecure, and some, mere roadsteads. The entrance to her principal rivers is obstructed by sand bars; and though art may, in some measure, correct these deficiencies, yet it cannot give what nature has denied, a harbour of sufficient magnitude to become a fit station for any considerable maritime force. Fortunately, this is not in any way essential to the prosperity of the country, as the vicinity of the United States, and the multitude of European vessels which seek the ​ports of Mexico with the manufactures of their respective countries, will afford sufficient facilities for the exportation of her raw produce, to whatever extent it may be carried.
On the western coast, the case is different. From Ăcăpūlcŏ to Gūāymăs, (in the Gulph of California,) there is a series of magnificent ports, many of which no vessel has ever yet entered. Ăcăpūlcŏ itself (the finest harbour, perhaps, in the world,) is but little frequented; its importance ceased with the trade of the galleons, nor is it likely ever to recover its former fame. The China and India trade has taken a different line, most of the ships engaged in it discharging their cargoes at the ports of Săn Blās, Măzătlān, and Gūāymăs; the demand for China goods being found to be greater on the Northern, and Western part of the Table-land, which is not yet sufficiently supplied with European manufactures, than in the Capital, where the market is absolutely glutted. Many years, however, must elapse before the commerce of the Western coast of Mexico can acquire any thing like the importance of that carried on upon the Eastern side; for, as there is but little difference between the agricultural produce of the countries with which she can hold intercourse through the medium of the Pacific, (Gūāyăquil, Pĕrū and Chile, China and Calcutta,) and her own, all remittances must be made in specie; with the exception of the hides, tallow, and ​wheat of California, in which an extensive trade is already carried on.
I have now traced most of the leading features which characterize Mexico as a country, with the exception of her mineral wealth. Silver may be called one of the staple commodities of New Spain; but I shall have occasion to enter into this subject, so fully, in the fourth book of this sketch, which is devoted to an account of the mines, that it would be superfluous to state any thing here but the fact, that the average annual amount of the silver raised before the revolution was twenty-four millions of dollars; a sum sufficient, alone, (without making any allowance for agricultural produce,) to render the country capable of producing it, a valuable market for European manufactures.
When added to those sources of wealth, which I have already pointed out, and to which I shall allude more fully in the third section, it places Mexico almost in the first rank of consuming nations, and ought to render her progress towards that station, which she is destined to occupy amongst the great communities of the world, an object of the deepest interest to all. Should my present undertaking have the effect of directing to the subject the attention of some one better qualified to do justice to it than myself, all that I venture to hope from this sketch, will be fully accomplished.
* ↑ This treaty was signed on the 22d February, 1819, by Mr. Adams and the Chevalier Onis, then Spanish Minister at Washington.
* ↑ Should any of my readers wish for information respecting the mode in which these Western settlements have been conducted, and the extraordinary manner in which they have thriven, I can refer them to Flint's "Journal of a Ten Years' Residence in the Valley of the Missisippi;" which, although written in a most uncouth style, is both an interesting and instructive work.
* ↑ I allude particularly to Captain Vetch, Director of the Real del Monte Company, and Mr. Glennie, one of the Commissioners
* ↑ It rises at the foot of the mountains of Sierra Verde, and traverses a space of 512 leagues before it reaches the Gulph.
* ↑ The village of Zăpōtlănējŏ; for an account of which, vide Personal Narrative, Book 5.
* ↑ Wheat sells for fourteen and sixteen dollars the carga (300 lbs.); barley for four or five dollars, according to the season; charcoal for one dollar, and, in the rainy season, for one and a-half dollar per arroba (of 25 lbs.)