ucing district about seventy miles west
of Vera Cruz, nearly upon the direct line between the Gulf and the city
of Mexico. To be exact, it is sixty-six miles from the former city and
two hundred from the latter. Speaking of coffee, the region wherein it
thrives and is remuneratively productive is very large in Mexico. It
grows down to the coast and far up into the table-lands, but it does
best in an altitude of from one to three thousand feet above the level
of the sea. In this region, as we have already indicated, a berry is
produced which we consider equal to the product of any land. Under
proper conditions the republic could furnish the whole of this country
with the raw material wherewith to produce the favorite beverage,
enormous as is the consumption. The bananas of this region were found to
be especially luscious and appetizing. In growth this is a beautiful,
thrifty, and productive annual, forming a large portion of the food
supply of the humbler classes, and a favorite dessert at the tables of
the rich. From the centre of its large, broad, palm-like leaves, which
gather at the top of the thick stalk, twelve or fifteen inches in
diameter, when it has reached a height of about ten feet, there springs
forth a large purple bud, eight or nine inches long, shaped like a huge
acorn, but a little more pointed. This cone hangs suspended from a
strong stem upon which a leaf unfolds, displaying a cluster of young
fruit. As soon as these have become fairly set, this sheltering leaf
drops off and another unfolds, exposing its little brood of young fruit,
and the process goes on until eight or ten rings of small bananas are
started, forming bunches, when ready to pick, of from seventy-five to a
hundred of the finger-like product. After bearing, the stalk and top
die, but it sprouts up again from the roots, once more to go through the
liberal process of producing a crop of luscious fruit. It is said that
the banana is more productive and requires less care or cultivation than
any other food-producing growth in the tropics or elsewhere.

Neither Florida nor Cuba can furnish finer oranges than are grown in
vast quantities in the region round about Cordova. Peddlers offer them
by the basketful to passing travelers, ripe and delicious, two for a
penny; also, mangoes, bananas, pineapples, and other tropical fruits, at
equally low prices. Great quantities are shipped to other cities by
rail, and passengers carry away hundreds in bas