Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1865-05-20

sesses unusual interest at the preseubl
time. we publish the following sucscint
and interesting account of thai country
end its resources from the n II. Would
EXTENT AND PoPUIAT1oE, \.
Mexico comprises, since the date of
the American war, 797, 403 square miles:
we took in 1S4S more than half the en-
fire empire. Two broad ranges of
mountains inclose this peninsular king
dom, with connecting links, or sierT,ds,
holding between them high, basin-i1ke
table lands. Eternal heat and eternal
frost will at any time be encountered IN
crossing the diameter of the country
say from Vera Cruz to the Pacific
The valley of the City of Mexico itself
is z. 54S feet-aboye thezs -but-the
mountains looking down upon 1t are
IO.7Oo feet high. Mezicois divided ln-
to the tierraS,calentes, the srrqS temp'd-
DIES, and the tieyraS fi'ios; or hot, tenn
perate and cold lands. The mass OF the
country consists of bleak and lonely
moors, except where the streams filter
through; the hot parts are adjacent
to the coast.
PoLITIcKa DIVISION.
Mexico at present consists OF twenty
one states and three territories The
Rio Grand, its principal Tver, IS one
thousand eight hundred miles long.
The Colorado, on the west coast, emp
tying into the Gulf of California, is
two hundred and fifty leagues.
raa1 ETHNoLoGY. -1
The population consists of whites,
Africans, and Indians, with the mixed
breeds LeDeroS and RGHcheroS. The
representative creole, or native Mexican,
is voluptuous, lazy, and often vicious.
He is talented, unenterprising, lmprov-
ident, and proud.
ssPaciencia y 5drgjdr,'" Patience and
shuttle the cards. is their common mot
to. They are fatalists, and do not take
the bull by the horns. All who can
get into them seek the army and the
government; they are gamblers as a
race. and their women are bad house
wives and indifferently educated. AT
the same time. In their revolutions, the
Mexicans have shown patriotism and
some courage, and personally they are
both hospitable and aft ctionate.
The Lepero Is the Mexican Bohemian
he has no home; his wife or amiga,
lives on the road; he likes 10 drink and
to sing, he spends his money before he
makes It. He begs well, and has some
fugitive ability, partly artistic. BIT he
steals the best of all The RuRcheT0 is
a small farmer, and good man to for
age upon, although he is a natural sol
der, and generally insists on war after
every hayest. The common field labor
with stake and uses his back for q wag-
on. One of Mccormick s reapers would
exterminate this race in year.
RELIGION.
The people of Mexico, Indians and
all, are Catholics, devotedly. There is
no slavery by law in Mexico, but plenty
of it by custom; the Indiansare whipped
over the backs; There are 143 sep
crate tribes in Mexico, and some thirty
castles.
The population is about six millions,
one sixth of which are white Only one
eighth of the whole number can, read
and write. - ANN
CLIMATE AND AGRICULTURE. i
There are only two seasons in SIex-
leo. As there Is not enough rain, the
people depend upon Irrigation, and
spend much money III forcing wheels
and aqueducts. The corn Lands yield
twenty-eight bushels for one but in
good places, eighty bushels for one
The roads are bad, owing to frequent
wars, and transportation Is carried on
by caravans OF mules. Corn sells for
from one dollar to two dollars for every
one hundred and fifty pounds there is
no national market TO Fix the price OF
products. Birds, blight, and fungus
are the enemies of Mexican maize. In
the hot districts, the banana grows
bountifully Humboldt says that an
acre of wheat viii supply three men,
but an acre of bananas vail supply fifty.
MainOc, rice, olives, grapes, capslcunl,
are also staple products. All our Uni
ted States vegetables grow there, the
tomato being prodigious, and the frizol,
or brown bean, as big as a pretZel.
Pulque is the common drink we men
ton this for the benefit of would-be sol
diers IL Is made of the aloe, and stands
for our whiskey. The sugar plantations
of ; exico rank among the finest IN the
world coffee is also cultivated sim
gle tree frequently producing twenty
eight pounds.
GOLD AND SILVER MINES. g
The mines Of Mexico have been
wrought from the earliest periods. The
early Mexicans before Cortez knew how
to prepare them, and mined them pre-
cisely as we do. They possessed, even
then, gold, silver, lead, tin, copper, and
cinnabar, and used metallic currency,
which we do not do at present. The
mining districts are divided into eight
groups, all placed on the western slope
of the great Gordillera, Occupying a
space of twelve thousand square leagues,
or one-tenth of the whole extent of the
country.
Tobacco and indigo, wax and cotton,
are Indigenous. In 1858 there were
fifty-three cotton factories in the repub-
lie, with one hundred and thirty-one
thousand two hundred ami eighty spin
dies. The water-pOwer OF the country
is abundant The vanilla bean grows
wild there ;; jalap, .cacao; cochineal, and
silk are in excess ofthe industry to get
them The semi-slave industry of Mex
leo has ruined it. Under wiser dispen-
sation the fruits and products of the land
would improve to a great degree.
ola COMMERCE AND NAVY .t.s01 !. ~
Mexico has no commerce whatever,