TOPOORAPITY. The surface of the main portion of Mexico rises steeply from the narrow coast lands. and more gently from the great depression of the lower Rio Grande to the broad tableland of the interior. This ventral plateau is dominated by mountains whose great height is masked by the elevated lands above which they rise. The peninsula of Yucatan. on the other hand, has nothing in common with the main mass of Mexico in its conformation or geological struc ture. being a very low, level region.
The eastern coast is of monotonous aspect. low, flat. and sandy; but in the State of Vera Cruz, where the lofty mountain edge of the plateau most nearly approaches the con.:t. the ineonspien ous shore line is forgotten by all who approaeh it from the gulf, for the majestic summits of the interior are visible far out to sea and dominate the view. Long reaches of sand banks stretch in front of the shore nearly as far south as Vera Cruz. shielding the shallow waters between the mainland and the banks from the sea waves. The Pacific shore is also generally low. though here and there relieved by spurs from the Cordillera that extend to the ocean. Most of the many small islands near the coasts are uninhabited, though some of them are very fertile. The most important islands are El Carmen. the largest Mexican island in the Gulf of Mexico: San Juan de Chia and tinerifieins. at Vera Cruz: Mujeres and Cozmnel, in the Caribbean Sea: Guadalupe, in the Pacific off the coast of Lower California: Cho Trcs Marius group. 111.:1 r the entrartee to the (lull of California; the Itevilla Gigedo grimy. for off the eoast of the State of Colima, to which it is assigned; and Alcatras Island, near the coast of Michoacan.
There are no good natural harbors on the Gulf of Mexico coast, but this impediment to com merce has been partly relieved by the expenditure of large sums. Jetties at the entrance to the port of Tampico have increased the depth from to 24 feet; and breakwaters at Vera Cruz have turned that dangerous roadstead into a safe and commodious harbor. The best natural .harbors are on the Pacific coast. those of Acapulco, Man zanilla, Guaymas, and La Paz, the chief town of Lower California, being most conspicuous. That of Acapulco is one of the finest natural harbors in the world. These excellent Pacific coast ports have, however, the disadvantage that they are shut off by mountains from the busiest parts of the republic, and therefore do not have a large share of the country's trade.
The eastern and western edges of the great central tableland are bordered by two cordilleras or high mountain ranges. The eastern range (Sierra Madre Oriental) extends from 10 to 100 miles back of the Gulf of Mexico, the land gently sloping from the foot of the mountains to the sea. The cordillera on the Pacific side (Sierra Madre Occidental) is on the whole nearer to the coast ; and in the south, in the States of Michoacan and Guerrero. extends a coastal range, a broad and fertile valley stretching between it and the main cordillera which trends toward the east. The most continuous range is the Sierra Madre Occidental of the Pacific which extends from Arizona to Oaxaca with a mean elevation of over 10,000 feet. The inland faces of the two border ranges descend somewhat gently to the central tableland, while their seaward sides are more precipitous, presenting many scarps and cliffs and furrowed with deep chasms or gorges. The border ranges gradually approach one an other toward the south and the narrowing plain between them terminates, south of the City of Mexico, in a labyrinth of mountains culminating in giant peaks, such as Popocatepetl and Orizaba.
They include an irregular line of mountains, known to the Mexicans as the Cordillera de Anahuac, extending east and west across the country without forming, a continuous chain, but embracing most of the active volcanoes.
The numerous volcanoes of Mexico, active and extinct, which are confined to the southern half of the country between the 22t1 parallel and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, are the most elevated features of the topography. Ten of them are more or less active. though a number may be called dormant, as their exhalations consist only of aqueous or sulphurous vapors. The loftiest among them is Orizaba (Citlaltepet1), Star Mountain. 18,250 feet in height, situated to the north of the line of the railroad between Cruz and the City of Mexico. It has not been in violent eruption since the middle of the six teenth century, and has been nearly quiescent since the middle of the nineteenth century.though vapors and sulphurous jets are still ejected from its crater, which, however, is usually filled with snow. Popocatepetl (Smoking Mountain). 1i. 520 feet, the most widely known of the Mexican volcanoes, is comparatively easy of ascent. Its yawning crater is over a half a mile in circum ference and 250 feet deep. and through the melted snow around the orifice frequent jets of gas emerge. Orizaba and Popocatepetl are among the most perfectly formed of volcanic mountains. Ixtaeeihuatl (White Woman), 16,900 feet, rises to the north of Popocatepetl, and is now extinct, though many legends relating to its ancient activity are still repeated. The extinct Nevado de Toluca (14,950 feet ) rises to the south of the town whose name it bears, a lake from melting snows ptr•tly filling its 'crater with pure cold water in which fish of a rivuliar species are found, Malinche (13,400 feet) rises in isolated majesty from the middle of the Tlaxcala plateau. On the verge of the central plateau bordering the Sierra Madre Oriental is Cofre de l'erote (13, -I00 feet), another great eruptive summit now extinct, which owes its name 'coffer' to the quad rilateral form of its summit, and is famous for the China-camote cavern on its western side• said to be over 30 miles in length. but difficult of ac cess because its floor is strewn with large rocks. Colima (12.970 feet),not far from the Pacific and the most active volcano in Mexico, is in an almost incessant state of ebullition. The view from its summit, during its periods of quietude, is un rivaled. embracing the ocean, widespread plains, and the glittering snow crown of Popocatepetl far to the east. The forested Taneitaro volcano (12,1150 feet) is in the same latitude as Colima, but nearer to the Sierra Madre. As the limit of perpetual snow is a little under 15.000 feet above the sea, only three of these lofty summits, Orizaba, Popocatepetl• and Ixtaccihuatl, have an enduring crown of snow; and considerable glaciers develop only on Ixtaccilutatl. The small volcano of Jorullo (4330 feet) is said by the natives to have suddenly risen above the culti vated plain in a single night near the end of 1759, though its period of construction did not end till 17113. Humboldt made it famous by the description he received from the natives of its terrific energy. Columns of superheated air still rise from its crater.