MEXICO constitutes the south-west extremity of North America, and occupies a por tion of the isthmus which connects the latter with the s. part of the American continent. It is bounded on the n. by the territories of the 'United States, on the w. by the Pacific ocean, on the s. by the Pacific and Central America, and on the e. by the gulf of Mexico. The area of Mexico is about 750,000 sq.m., and the pop. (1878) about 9,340,000. In 1861 the 8,000,000 inhabitants were thus distributed amongst the various races: Indians, 4,800,000; whites, 1,004,000; half-breeds, 1,190,000; negroes, 6,000. The follovr ing table gives the names of the provinces and their chief towns, with the populations for 1869: Physical Character, etc.—The great mass of the Mexican territory consists of an ele vated plateau, forrned by an expansion of the Cordilleras of Central America (q.v.), from which terraced slopes descend with a more or less rapid inclination towards the Atlantic on the e. and the Pacific on the west. This vast tract, which extends from 18° to 32° n. lat., and from 95° to 115° w. long., comprises one of the richest and most varied zones in the world; for while its geographical position secures to it a tropical vegeta tion, the rapid differences of elevation which characterize it afford it the advantages of temperate clitnates, in which all the varieties of our European flora and fauna can come to perfection; and it thus combines within its limits an almost unparalleled exuberance and multiplicity of natural products. The table-lands of Mexico lie at elevations varying from 5,000 to more than 9,000 ft. above tbe level of the sea, and exhibit great differences of level and varieties of soil. They generally incline northward, and are for the most part girt in by low mountain chains, among which rise individual lofty peaks, as Coffre de Perote (13,400 ft.), Orizava (17,370 ft.), and others; while they are intersected by higher ranges, above which tower a few cones, as Istaccihuatl, the white woman (15,700 ft.), and the volcano of Popocatapetl, or the smoking mountain (17,880 feet). These volcanoes and several others of less note, lying within the parallels of 18° 15' and 19° 30' n. lat., form a transverse volcanic band between the two oceans, and do not follovr the inclination of the central chain, as is the case in the volcanoes of South America. Volcanoes also occur isolated, as, for instance, in the plain of Mixtecapan, 2,900 ft. above the sea, where, in 1759, the volcano of Jorullo, which still emits smoke, was formed after an eruption, by which a surface of many square nailes was raised several feet above the level of the plain; in fact, every part of the Mexican territory betrays the volcanic nature of its formation, although neither earthquakes nor any other active phe nomena have of late been of frequent occurrence. The principal chain, intersecting the table-land, is the Sierra Madre, or Tepe Suene, in which lie the chief gold and silver mines, and which, after traversing the states of Queretaro and Guanajuato, divides into three main branches, the central of which forms the water-shed between the Pacific ocean.and the gulf of Mexico. In addition to these great chains, the Mexican territory is intersected by numerous lesser ranges, which on the Pacific side break up the terraced declivities into innumerable deeply cleft valleys, which assume almost the character of steep ravines near their junction with the narrow littoral plains of the Pacific ocean.
Violent storms rage on this coast, blowing from the south-west during the hot months, when the climate is as prejudicial to whites as on the 3lexican gulf, although it is not visited by the yellow-fever. Mexico may be said to be generally deficient in navig,able rivers; for although sotne of the largest have a course of rnore than 1000 miles, few are free from rapids. The Rio Santiago, or Rio Grande, with a course of 500 m., broken near Guadalajara by 60 falls in the space of less than three miles; the Rio Grande del Norte, which forms in its lower course the boundary between Mexico and the United States, has a winding course of nearly 1800 m., but it is only- navigable for !mall sailing vessels to Matamoras, 60 m. from its mouth, where a bar and numerous shoals prevent the passage of large vessels. A similar remark applies to the inajority of the rivers which fall into the gulf of Mexico. The eastern coast 0-enerally presents great obstacles to navigation, as it is low and sandy, unbroken bays or inlets, and lined by sandbanks several miles in width ; the only points of access being the mouths of rivers, which are not good roadsteads, as with few exceptions, the rivers have little water, except at the rainy season, which generally sets in about June, accompanied by overpowering heat, during the prevalence of which the yellow-fever, or vomit° prieto, racres like a pest in all the low lands. Mexico is on the whole badly supplied with wanter; and since the Spaniards have discontinued the system of irrigation, which was followed by the Aztec races with so much success, many tracts have become barren, and unsuited for the purpose of human occupation. A great portion of the table-lands can only be used for pasture. Springs are rare, and many of the rivers flow in deep mountain beds, without receiving smaller tributaries, while the rapid evaporation on a light soil, covering porous rocks, leaves the surface dry and hot, and unable to support any vegetation, beyond the cactus and some low grasses. The plains, moreover, con tain the beds of numerous dry salt lakes, but this is chiefly the case on the north and east of tbe table-land. The western parts of the plateaux between 100° and 102° w, long. (known as the Baxio), yield, by careful irrigation, rich crops of maize and wheat, and rank among the most fertile agricultural districts of Mexico. They are, however, here and there interrupted by sterile tracts, either covered by stones, and then known as " pedegral," or with lava, when they are characterized as a mal pais (bad country). In contrast with these unprofitable districts, the plains are occasionally broken by depres sions of the soil, known as barrancas, descending sometimes 1000 ft., and measuring several miles across, which are covered with a luxuriant vegetation of trees and shrubs, and watered by- small streams running through the middle of the valley. Mexico has numerous lakes, but few of any importance; that of Chapala in Jalisco is one of the most considerable, beino. more than 90 m. long.