of reaching them, and upon all other subjects appertaining thereto."
He also added the following general remarks to accompany the Decree:—
"In connection with the foregoing Decree, I beg leave to add, for the information of those who are disposed to avail themselves of the very liberal terms offered by it, a few remarks upon the physical geography, the agricultural resources and industrial pursuits of this beautiful country.
"The Empire of Mexico lies between the parallels of 15° and 32° north latitude, and its shores are bathed by the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea on the one hand, and by the Pacific Ocean on the other. It is celebrated for its mines of gold; copper and lead also abound. Though its mineral wealth has dazzled the world, its mineral wealth is, as a source of riches, by no means equal to its soil.
"Its climates are genial, and its harvest perpetual; under good husbandry the yield is bountiful, being fifty, one hundred, and sometimes two hundred-fold. On the way up from Vera Cruz to Mexico I saw the cereals in all stages of cultivation.
"The seasons in Mexico are not marked by the vicissitudes of heat and cold, but by wet and dry. The coldest time of the year in this city is about the end of the dry season in April or May. In the Tierra Caliente the rainy season is the sickly season. Between the mountains and the sea there is on both coasts a flat country varying in width from ten to fifty miles or more.
"These lowlands reach back to the mountains, which form the edge of the table-land or great central plateau. The low country corresponds to that which in Virginia and the Carolinas lies between the blue ridge and the sea. It is the hot country of Mexico, the Tierra Caliente. Everything
