and sugar, maize, coffee, and cotton are cultivated. The mineral wealth of this State has not as yet been properly exploited. A valuable lumber industry exists, and there is a considerable salt industry. But this territory has been rather neglected because of the lack of railway facilities and, perhaps, through its distance from the centre of the country. Scenically it is one of the most impressive districts in Mexico; but its climate is almost tropical in parts, and dust and rain-storms rather handicap it for residential purposes. But the soil is extremely fertile, and the agriculturist in Colima may rely on reaping two or three crops a year without a great deal of trouble. The remoteness from which it has long suffered will pass away with the proper installation of rail-way facilities, and doubtless its natural resources will rapidly be opened up when this desirable consummation takes place. Colima, the capital, has a population of about 25,000 and has various local industries, its chief activities being the export of rice, coffee, rubber, and cabinet woods.
The State of Hidalgo has nearly 75,000 inhabitants and, like most Mexican States, has a large area of mountainous region. Its mining resources can only be Hidalgo. described as immense; and its coffee, sugar, cotton, and tobacco plantations are rich and numerous. Perhaps nowhere in Mexico is there so much wealth per head of the population as in Hidalgo. Large deposits of iron are mined in some vicinities, and this is worked into bars and castings and disposed of to other States.
Pachuca, the capital, has a population of about 40,000, and is one of the oldest towns in Mexico, with a long history behind it and some really fine Spanish architecture. Some of the churches and the Government palace are particularly noteworthy. It was here that Medina discovered the process of reducing silver ores with quicksilver in 1587, and his old hacienda is still to be seen. American capital is behind most ventures in Pachuca, and has, of course, suffered
