Mexico / Its Ancient and Modern Civilisation, History, Political Conditions, Topography, Natural Resources, Industries and General Development

by C. Reginald Enock

A RARE OCCURRENCE: SNOWFALL IN A MEXICAN TOWN; VIEW OF THE PLAZA OF LERDO, ON THE GREAT PLATEAU.

If the geology and topography of Mexico are marked and peculiar, the organic world also presents its own remarkable conditions; for, as to its flora and fauna, Mexico is a land of transition, between North America on the one hand and Central and South America on the other, and contains the species of both regions, in the animal and vegetable kingdoms.

As may well be imagined from such peculiar conditions, Mexico is a country whose flora and fauna are diverse and extensive. Indeed, as regards the former, every vegetable product found from the Equator to the Polar Circle exist in the country. The soil, in the tropical regions, as a result of high temperature and excessive moisture, is deep and fertile, both from the rock-decay consequent upon such conditions, and the deposit of organic matter from the profuse vegetation. In the region of the high plateau the product of rock-disintegration added to that caused by volcanic matter, and the sediment of dried-up lagoons of very recent time, have produced a great depth of soil in places, as before described, covering vast expanses, and this soil is found to be of exceeding fertility under irrigation. The conditions regarding irrigation are very marked in the region of the Nazas. On the one hand we encounter dry, bare, and uncultivated wastes; on the other verdant fields of cotton. Why is this? Both the lands are of a similar character of soil, but one is above the line of the irrigation canal, and the other below.

No description of Mexico can be complete which does not sound the praises of her varied flora. The most striking characteristic of the flowers of this land, as has often been remarked, is the richness and brilliance of their colour. The floating gardens, and the canoe-loads of flowers and altar adornments of such which the Aztecs used and trafficked in, bore witness to aboriginal appreciation of these. To-day the flower-market of the capital is one of its attractions, whilst in the valley of Mexico not a day in the year lacks roses, lilies, camellias, strawberries, et hoc genus omne.

A varied and indeed, at times, eccentric field of study is laid open for the botanist in Mexico, for not only is there a remarkable variety of species, but their distribution is often singular. Thus the pine-tree is often found at low elevations upon the tropic slopes, much below its proper habitat upon the mountain ranges; whilst palms flourish in certain places as high as 8,000 feet above sea-level; and the extraordinary cactus forms, which in Mexico are found in their greatest development, grow both on the high mountain slopes and the tropic lowland plains. Especially will the traveller in Mexico be struck by the imposing organo cactus. This extraordinary growth, in form like a series of organ pipes, from which it takes its name, or like a huge branching candelabra, arising from a single stem, is a marked feature of the landscape. A few strokes of a machete, severing the stem of one of these great succulent plants, will bring down the whole structure, weighing many tons. The cactus, especially upon the high, arid deserts of the plateau, is a striking example of a plant contending with the conditions of its environment in the struggle for life. Cacti are veritable cisterns of water, stored up against long periods of absolute drought, so that they may be able to perform their function of flowering. The organo and other cacti consist of great masses of juicy green cells; and to protect the scarce commodity of water which they have collected for their own use from predatory desert beasts and birds, Nature has armed them at every point with an appalling armour of thorns, or spikes, sharp as steel, and due to these matters of offence and defence the cactus is enabled to flourish in sterile places where absolutely no other vegetation could exist. Nowhere are these conditions so marked as upon the upper reaches of the high plateau of Mexico, and the variety of the cacti is most interesting. Among the cactus species are some which are of value—great value—to the human inhabitants. Chief of these is the maguey (Agave americana), which is indeed one of the staple resources of the country, with a varied use, as described in the pages dealing with agriculture. The nopat, or prickly-pear, is a useful plant, yielding a succulent fruit—the tunas—and is also the habitat of the cochineal.

A ROAD IN THE TEMPERATE ZONE, WITH PALMS AND VEGETATION.

The tropical region—the tierra caliente—is generally covered, as before described, with a profuse floral and arboreal vegetation, whilst the other climatic belts display their own peculiar plant and tree life. Throughout the country generally, a large number of species of timber and plants exist in an uncultivated state, of commercial value, and these are enumerated in the chapter corresponding to the natural products. Among the 115 or more species of timber and wood for constructional purposes are oak, pine, mahogany, cedar, and others, whilst the list of fibrous and medicinal plants, gum-bearing trees, as india-rubber, chicle, &c., tinctorial and resinous trees, edible plants and fruits, is of much interest and value. In the tropical lowlands the country is so thickly wooded as in places to be impassable, except by clearing trails and felling trees. There are virgin forests of great extent in these sparsely populated regions, both of the Pacific and Atlantic slopes. Upon the great plateau, however, and the mountain slopes immediately adjoining it conditions are very different. Great tracts of country are, as elsewhere described, absolutely bare of vegetation, both naturally and by reason of the inroads made upon the forests by civilised man. The great desert tracts never had tree or plant life in profusion, but the hilly regions bounding these, and the inward slopes of the Sierra Madres were formerly covered with thick forests, and in some regions are still so covered. But they have been denuded in certain regions of their timber, principally for fuel, as native coal has been unknown until recently, and is difficult of transport. This denudation has had an undoubted effect upon the rainfall, and has served to change the climatic conditions in these regions. In other upland regions, however, the splendid and extensive forests of oak and pine form marked features of the landscape, and are of much industrial value.

VEGETATION IN THE TROPICAL FORESTS.