MEXICO by G. W. Caviness

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 11, 1902

MEXICO

By G. W. Caviness

In response to an article published in the REVIEW AND HERALD a few weeks ago, we have received so many letters of inquiry that it would require a large amount of correspondence to give each separately any satisfactory answer to the different questions about the country and the opportunities offered for self-supporting missionary work. We are glad there is such an interest, and will do what we can to give a faithful portrayal of the country, its needs, and its possibilities.

Although lying mainly within the tropics, the climate of Mexico is generally delightful, and perhaps as free from extremes of heat and cold as any place in the world. There is a narrow strip of land on both the Gulf and Pacific coasts which is low, hot, and unhealthful; but a short distance from the coast it becomes mountainous, with extensive valleys between the ridges, at various altitudes, ranging from three to nine thousand feet above the level of the sea. The temperature varies according to the altitude, but may be described in general as perpetual spring. Here in the valley of Mexico the thermometer has recently fallen three or four degrees below the freezing point, which is so unusual that the daily papers have been commenting on the subject, and looking up the records for hundreds of years past. Baron von Humboldt, who visited the country in 1803-4, says: “In the capital of Mexico the thermometer has been known to fall several degrees below the freezing point; but this is a very rare phenomenon, and the winters are as mild there as at Naples. In the coldest season the mean heat of the day is from 55° to 57°. In summer the temperature never rises above 75°. The mean temperature of the whole table-land of Mexico is in general 62°, which is equal to the temperature of Rome.”

The papers say there has been no important variation from the preceding citation in the last hundred years. This is for the valley of Mexico, at an elevation of about 7,500 feet above sea-level. Within four or five hours' ride on the cars, one can reach other valleys at an elevation of five thousand feet, where frost is unknown. Another consideration is that the winter comes in the dry season, when the air is almost entirely free from moisture, and the sun shines nearly all the time; so the extreme cold of this altitude is only a fair frost at night, with the thermometer a few degrees below the freezing point; and this does not last but a few weeks.

Neither do we have extreme heat in summer. The heat has never made me uncomfortable enough to cause me to look at a thermometer. For a few hours in the middle of the day the sun's rays seem quite hot, but one rarely perspires, and never feels oppressed by the heat. Such a thing as sunstroke has never happened so far as my knowledge extends.

The heat of summer is modified also by the fact that it comes in the rainy season. The rains begin in May or June, and last till October. During this time it rains almost every day, usually in the afternoon, but all the rest of the day, except while the shower lasts, is fresh and delightful. In the matter of climate, Mexico certainly is far ahead of most parts of this old earth, and offers a resort to those who would escape the rigors of less favored lands. But climate is not everything, and a too mild locality is not the best to develop the energy and push of the “strenuous life.”

G. W. CAVINESS.

Tacubaya, Mexico.