. Europe and other continents . 520 HE VIE IV OF NORTH AMEBIC A It was the mines that attracted the Spaniards to Mexico,and that country still produces such an amount of silverthat it ranks second among silver-producing regions (Fig. 416).Large areashave never beencarefully ex-plored for ore,and in many ofthe mines, oper-ated by Mexi-cans, very primi-tive methods areemployed. Mexico Cityis the largest city, having apopulation of350,000. Sincegood harbors arewanting, owingto the rising land (p. 488), Vera Cruz is the only im-portant port. There is almost no manufacturing in Mexicancities. Why ?
. Europe and other continents . 520 HE VIE IV OF NORTH AMEBIC A It was the mines that attracted the Spaniards to Mexico,and that country still produces such an amount of silverthat it ranks second among silver-producing regions (Fig. 416).Large areashave never beencarefully ex-plored for ore,and in many ofthe mines, oper-ated by Mexi-cans, very primi-tive methods areemployed. Mexico Cityis the largest city, having apopulation of350,000. Sincegood harbors arewanting, owingto the rising land (p. 488), Vera Cruz is the only im-portant port. There is almost no manufacturing in Mexicancities. Why ? Central America. — This mountainous region has severalactive volcanoes and is often disturbed by fact, because of the frequent shocks it has been neces-sary to change the sites of some of the large the five republics (Fig. 399). Their population issimilar in origin to that of Mexico, and there are frequentrevolutions, as in South America. Point out the Britishcolony of British Honduras, or Fig. map of Central America. COUNTRIES SOUTH OF THE UNITED STATES 521 What about the temperature and rainfall (Fig. 26) ofCentral America ? A large portion of the land is cov-ered with tropical forests containing valuable woods andthe rubber tree (p. 115). As in Mexico, coffee is raised onthe hill slopes in the shade of the forest trees, one of themost important sections for this industry being Guatemala(Fig. 426). Bananas, sugar, tobacco, indigo, and cocoa areother products. The largest city is Guatemala withseventy thousand inhabitants. Nicaragua is of special interest to us on account of theproposed Nicaragua Canal, favored in our country in pref-erence to the Panama Canal (p. 132). The Nicaraguaroute is longer than the Panama route, but a part of thedistance is occupied by a lake, and the elevation necessaryto be passed over is only half as great as that for thePanama Canal. Islands. — From Yucatan to Florida a chain of islands,called the Wes
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