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MEXICO AND THE MEXICANS.

by W.B.  HOLDEN.

Americans know but little of the great country that lies to the south of us.  They would consider it an evidence of ignorance if a Mexican had never heard the name of one of the United States, yet not one American in a hundred can name five of the twenty-seven States, which, with two territories and a federal district, make up the great republic of Mexico.  As to size, an equal ignorance prevails.  The average person thinks that Mexico is about as large as Pennsylvania, and is surprised to hear that it has one-fifth the area of the United States, including Alaska.

Here are some figures which may serve to show its size.  It is six times as large as Great Britain, more than three times as large as Germany, and you could lose three countries as big as France inside it.  Across the top of it, where, like a great horn, it is fastened to the United States, it is as long as Topeka is distant from New York city, and a line drawn from the root of the horn at California, diagonally across it to its tip at Guatemala, would be as long as the distance from New York to Denver.  This horn is about 150 miles wide at the bottom, or tip, and 1550 miles wide at its beginning, where it joins on to us.  In its curve it embraces the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific Ocean washes its other side.

It is true that Mexico is not thickly settled, the total population being less than 12,000,000; but it has one city—­the capital—­containing 300,000, one of 100,000, and a number of cities of 25,000 inhabitants, of which the ordinary American never heard the names.  But Mexico has an incomparable climate, and the land contains riches in minerals, precious stones and agricultural resources, unsurpassed by any other country.

Mexico is a land of different civilization from ours, and we know very little about it.  The ruling classes, numbering a few thousands, are descendants of Spaniards, while the millions of people who are ruled are descendants of the Aztecs.  They are called Indians, but they have nothing in common with our aborigines.  They speak Spanish, but they have their own tongues as well, and there are said to be a hundred dialects in use.  Some of the most striking men in Mexican history have come from this class.  Juarez was an Indian, and Diaz has Indian blood in his veins.

It is a land of many climates.  Along the coast is the tropics, with all their rich vegetation, malarial diseases, fevers and poisonous reptiles; in the higher mountain regions, intense cold and fierce storms prevail, while between the two, and often within a few hours ride of either, lies the plateau which constitutes the greater part of Mexico, and there the climate is like a balmy June day all the year round.  Clear skies, perpetual sunshine and pure air combine to give this favored region the ideal climate of the world.