The log cabin Democrat., 1909-09-15
ScE/YE OY ZtzE XlcA CHNAL

l<cdN IilS MtAiNO 1lty anu U NCiiiis eastward on the great plateau of Mexico some 150 miles to Esperanza, you reach an elevation of 5000 feet. Here begins the descent toward the coast, and while you are lunching, the train takes on an engine which, when you see it, makes you begin to eX- pect something, and you are not dis appointed This engine is a marvel ous piece of machinery built in Eng land especially for this road. It is a double engine with four cylinders and two smokestacks, one at either end One huge frame holds all the ma chinery. The engineer stands in the middle and operates both engines with one lever.
 A few moments after leaving Els peranZa, one of the most beautiful landscapes on earth spreads out be fore you. On the right, the mountains rise up in gigantic columns Of basalt1c rock, OF the left one looks down 4,0Oo feet upon the vale of La Jolla (the Gem) with It's tropical vegetation, and beyond, to the fertile fields of Nal trata.
 Your train clings to the side of the mountain; revines and gorges in thelr wild and awful grandeur meet the gaze at every turn. You cross bridges ap- parently stuck into the mountainside One. "El Infiernillo," carries you across a veritable caidron 1000 feet below. Here and there one catches .f cho p1nns Whprp Suisite ferns and flowers of dazzling brilliancy grow beside the tinkling streams aud the brown trunks of fal len trees are covered with brilliant parasitic flowers. Thousands of feet below clouds hang on the mountain side, and the hot steam formed in the tropical valleys comes up in a cloud of vapor.
 Winding in and out of tunnels, the train crawls like a serpent along the steep mountain passes until, after three hours ride, the first stop is made at Maltrata, which, from the top of the mountain, looks, with it's cultivated fields, like checker-board. Here you find yourself on the border of the temperate zone, and different class of people entirely are the In dians who swarm about the train, or fering for sale mangoes, zapOtes, chirimoyas and all kinds of tropical fruits and flowers.
 Leaving Maltrata, the train rumbles on through the mountains. Every time the whistle blows, the echo thunders and reverberates like the charge of heavy artillery. Reaching the town of Orizaba about five o'clock, you are at the edge of the "tierra caliente."
 Orizaba is a quaint old Spanish city of some 50,000 inhabitants, nesting in the foothills that form the eastern slope of the great volcano from which 1t takes its name OriZaba, the an cient Citlatepetl Of the Aztecs, the Star mountain, It's crystal cone spark ling like a star may be seen more than 100 miles al sea, and it is the first glimpse the traveller by sea has of this land of romance, It was called by the Spaniards who first landed at Vera Cruz, La Estrella del Mar"
 The city of Orizaba Is one of the oldest in Mixeco, and retains It's old Spanish atmosphere almost more than any other town in the republic. The houses are mostly adobe. though some are of stone, and all the windows are covered by iron bars like cages, which stand out over the narrow sidewalks. Often the interiors are very beautiful. Many people of wealth make this their home, for it Is the center of the great coffee, sugar and tobacco country.
 There are several interesting churches here. The Cathedral which occupies a square in the center of the city, has several oil paintings of un- usual interest. done by local artist, Gabriel Barraca.
 The zocalo, or central park, adjoins the Cathedral, and is the airing-place for society on the warm summer even ings Here one may see the Spanish women in their quaint and beautiful costumes, wearing the characteristic black and white mantillas so becom- Ing to them, and one feels that this iG the old life which has not yet given Say to the foreign influences of the