Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-31

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1 Group Of Natives.
Great Britain. 1t is more than three times
Is large rs Germany, and you could lose
three countries as big as France inside of it.
Across the top Off,
Where Like a Great Horn
1t is fastened 10 the United States, it is as
long rs indianapolis is distant from New
York City, and a line drawn from the root
of the horn at California catacornered across
il 10 its tip ut Guatemala would be as long
as the distance from New York to Denver.
This horn is about $50 miles wide at the bot
tom or tip, and about S0e miles wide at its
sO2ts where it Joins on TO lis. In its curve
it embraces the Gulf Of Mexico, and the
Pacific Ocean washes its other side
L is not a smooth horn by any means.
Great mountains lie ali along its top, and
this top is a vast rolling table-land, the
most Of which is mile above the sea.
had imagined this great Mexican plateau
which runs from the North TO the South
throughout the entire country, to be fiat
1t Is rolling and Is made up Of desert
wastes rich valleys and of mountains which
have for the past POO years been furnishing
great part Of the gold and silver of the
wNIld.
Population of Its Cities.
Mexico is a land of good-sized cities. Its
capital. which is away at the south, has
more than three hundred thousand inhab-
itants. Guadalahara has 100, 600 and there
are number Of towns the names of which
are practically unknown 20 us, which have
2I,GCO and upward. L: is land of many
climates. Along the coast you have the
tropics with all of their rich vegetation,
:heiT fruits, and a;gn L learn, their tigers
and tarantulas. In the higher mountain
regions it is cold, but on this Mexican pla-
tcaE you find the ideal climate of the world
This plateau constitutes the greater part
OF Mexico, and this may be called the
climate OF Mexico. Here the climate is the
perfection Of a pleasant June in Ohio the
year round. The air is as pure as that which
sweeps over Egypt from the desert ir win
ter time, and South Italy and Greece can
furnish no more beautiful skies than these.
/ am now more than q mile above the sea,
and thisiS the level, not of a point on q
mountain side, but plateau upon which
the biggest nation of the Continent, with the
exception of Russia, could be lost. There is
perpetual sunshine here, and the blue skies
are bluer than those of the United States
The air is 50 rare that the eye can see many
miles farther than with US, and it affects the
nerves as though
One Was Breathing Champagne.
The skies are closer to the earth here than
AZ home, the moon shines at night with
greater brilliancy, and the diamond-like
Ears remind ME of the luminous heavens
which hang low at night over the Gulf of
Siam I have been in Singapore, almost on
the equator, where the thermometer stands
az about so the year round and where the
air IS always saturated with moisture. Here
] judge the thermometer averages about 20,
and the air is as dry and exhilarating as that
OF tie equatorial Malacca is moist and
e1ervating.
Think Of q country where the crops grow
in luxuriant greerness all the year; where
The rose grows in,O 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 partsA of this plateau, straw
berries are ripe during every week of the
year, and everything seems TO grow at any
time it is planted The rule about Silao
Is two crops of wheat from the same ground
year, and L 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 a garden. There is some
irrigation, bu. in many places the crops
grow without it, and 1 rode for miles yester-
day through lands which were as rich as
SustuV anu stS Dltck dS Tie rlcn SOL Ul1at
makes glad the Valley of the Nile The
lands along the coast are. am told, even
richer than the1e uplands, and the beauti
ful valley il which Mexico City is located
is one of the garden spots of the world.
Mexico City is about 1000 feet above the
sen. NV ride OF Yesterday was at an alti-
tude of more than 5000 feet above the level
Of the sea The valley through which we
passed was lined on both sides with mount
aims, which, i'll the hazy distance, looked as
Enough they had been busted with the
frosty silver which is so abundant within
them, and az we rode on through the green
I pointed to them and asked one of NV Mex |
ican fellow-traveiers what lay beyond. He |
replied that on the other side of the mount |
aims there were other little valleys as rich |
US that through which we We're passing, and /
the greater part of Central Mexico was made |
up os such country.
Where Only the Cactus Grows.
The Mexican plateau is not, however, by |
any lneacs 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, |
Travelled for two days through binding |
blaze ofdusty sand where the only green thing |
was the cactus which grows there in all its |
beauty and in ali its ugliness These des- |
erts are in some places Lit for grazing, and |
Mexicans tell me that on them are to be the |
great cattle-Taisipg grounds OF the future
Vast tracts OF them will be regaineti by ir-
rigation, and thousands of acres hare al
ready been reclaimed. Tie land, when irri-
gated, makes splendid cotton ground, and
one tract produced 81 600 bales last year
a number OF new companies are now be-
ing formed and Americans are largely in
tereSicd n them. The low lar.is which
slope from the plateau down to the coast do
not heed irrigation. They have an Immense
rainfall during the rainy season, and vege-
tatiun grows as rank as that of the ;ungIes
Of India.
Like Palestine in Spring limo.
The whole of this country partakes of the
Orient The moment you cross the Rio
GranGe you are in the lands of the romantic
East, rather than in the practical Wcs.
The air, the sky and nature are those OF
Palestine in spring time, and the architec-
ture reminds you now of Moorish Spain,
and again of the mrd-huts of Egypt The
people arc among the most picturesque on
the globe. Every nan is ct subject for n
painting, and tho American artist, bIr.
Church, who has spent seven winters in
HUrrNf asnIirr. eoNc he 6pde Nfox;oa |