Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-05-30

the sea- I had imagined this great Mexican
plateau, which runs from the north to the south
throughout the entire country, to be fiat. It
Is rolling and 10 made up of desert wastes, rich
valleys and Of mountains which have for the
past H0 years been furnishing q great part Of
the gold and silver of the world.
CITIES AND CLIMATE.
Mexico IL q land Of good-sized cities. Its
capital, which is away at the south, has more
than three hundred thousand inhabitants.
Giaudalahara has one hundred thousand, and
there are number Of towns, the names Of
which are practically unknown to US, which
have twenty-five thousand and upward. 1t is
land Of many climates. Along the coast you
have the tropics with all of their rich vegeta-
ton, their fruits. and also, learn their tigers
and tarantulas In the higher mountain re-
gions 1t IL cold. but on this Mexican plateau
you find the ideal climate Of the world. This
plateau constitutes the greater part Of
Mexico, and this may be called the eli
mate Of Mexico. Here the climate is the per-
lection Of pleasant June in Ohio the year
round The air Is as pure as that which sweeps
over Egypt from the desert in winter time and
south Italy and Greece can furnish no more
beautiful skies than these. l am now moro
than q mile above the sea and this is the level,
not Of point on q mountain side, but q
plateau upon which the biggest nation Of the
eastern continent, with the exception of Russia,
could be lost. There is perpetual sunshine
and the blue skies are bluer than those
Of the United States. The air is so
rare that the eye can see many miles
farther than with us, and it affects
the nerves as though one was breathing cham
payne. The skies are closer to the earth here
than at home, the moon shines at night with
greater brilliancy and the diamond-like stars
remind me of the luminous heavens which
hang low at night over the Gulf Of Siam. I
nave been in Singapore, almost on the equator,
where the thermometer stands at about eighty
the year round and where the air is always
saturated with moisture. Here 1 judge the
thermometer averages about seventy, and the
air Is as dry and exhilarating as that Of the
equatorial Malacca is moist and enervating.
CROPS ALL THE YEAR ROUND.
Think OF country where the crops grow in
luxuriant greenness all the year. Where the rose
grows into trees and flowers bloom forever.
saw yesterday men harvesting crops in one end
OF field while other men were planting the
same crops at the other. Upon parts of this
plateau strawberries are ripe during every
week OF the year and everything seems 70 grow
at any time it Is planted. The rule about Silao
Is two crops of wheat from the same ground a
year and see that in harvesting the wheat is
pulled root and all, from the ground, and this
air and sun form the only manure. This part
OF the Mexican plateau is like garden. There
Is some irrigation, but in many places the
crops grow without 1t, and rode for miles yes
terday through lands which were as rich as
guano and as black as the rich soil that makes
glad the valley Of the Nile. The lands along
the coast are, am told, even richer than these
uplands and the beautiful valley in which Mex
leo City Is located is one Of the garden spots
OF the world. Mexico City is about 1000
feet above the sea- My ride of yesterday
the level of the sea- The valley through which
we passed was lined on both sides with noun
talns. which in the hazy distance looked as
though they had been busted with the frosty
silver which is 90 abundant within them, and
as we rode on through the green 1 pointed to
them and asked one of my Mexican fellow
travellers what lay beyond He replied that on
the other side of the mountains there were
other little valleys as rich as that through
which we were passing and the greater part Of
central Mexico was made up Of such country.
VAST DESERTS.
The Mexican plateau is not, however, BY any
means all green. There are vast deserts like
those Of Arizona and Nevada, and in coming
here through the great state of chihuahua on
the Mexican Central railroad 1 travelled for two
days through Q binding blaze of dusty sand in
which the only green thing was the cactus,
which grows there in all its beauty and in all its
uglness. These deserts are in some places
MT for grazing and Mexicans tell me
that on them are to be the great cattle
Of them will be redeemed by irrigation and
thousands OF acres have already been re-
claimed. The land when irrigated makos
splendid cotton ground, and one tract pro-
duced 81, 900 bales last year. A number Of new
companies are now being formed and Ameri-
cans are largely interested in them. The low
lands which slope from the plateau down to the
coast do not need. irrigation. They have an
immense rainfall during the rainy season and
vegetation grows as rank Is that Of the jungles
Of India
LIKE THE ROMANTIC ORIENT.
NJ lola -
orient The moment you cross the Rio Grande
you are in the lands of the romantic east rather
than in the practical west. The air, the sky
and nature are those of Palestine in spring
time and the architecture reminds You now Of
Moorish Spain and again Of the mud huts Of
Egypt The people are among the most
picturesque on the globe. Every man is a fit
subject for painting, and the American
artist, Mr.. Church, who has spent seven winters
in Egypt sketching, says he finds Mexico a
much more fertile field than the well-worked
countries Of Europe. As soon as crossed the
Rio Grande l saw at every station lusty brigand-
like men, with handsome dark faces shining
out from great sombreros, the crowns Of which
came to a point foot above their heads and
the brims Of which seemed to be a foot wide
all around. These hats were gorgeous in their
silver and gold trimmings. Some Of them had
ropes Of silver around them almost as thick as
your wrist, and they formed only q part Of the
glittering costumes of these Mexican dudes
The clothes below them shone with silver but
tons and braid. The pantaloons of some of
the men were striped with silver buckles,
while to the waist of EACH fastened by q
leather belt filed with cartridges, hung a big
silver-mounted revolver. At many Of the sta
tons men dressed in this manner would gallon
up on horses as gorgeously apparaled, and
across the country we saw now and then
troops Of cavalry dashing over the fields. The
costumes Of the common people were fully as
picturesque, and both men and women pre-
sented rare bits Of color and reminded us of
the dance Of the nations in q spectacular ex-
travsganza.
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