the great centre of radiation.[1] On the table-land, however, excellent facilities are offered, and the interior is intersected by innumerable roads and mule-trails. During the war of independence, they fell into disrepair, and for a lengthened period were chronically bad, and the traveller, besides being exposed to the danger of robbery and assassination, incurred no little risk of a broken neck.[2]
Unsatisfactory as was the condition of the Mexican highways for a long period, the tolls were exceptionally high, and both merchandise and passengers were subject to extortionate charges made by contractors for the peaje dues.
The opening of free trade to foreign countries entailed changes in the system on which internal commerce had been previously conducted. The foreign traders who invaded the country, being all commission merchants, abolished the custom of employing intermediate agents between themselves and their customers,
- ↑ The highway from Vera Cruz to Mexico cost $3,000,000. From that port it runs northward till it nearly reaches Cerro Gordo, then it turns inland through the gorge of Jalapa, elevation 4,264 feet; thence it is extended over the mountain of Perote, 10,000 feet high, to the table-land of Mexico. Eight principal lines traversed the country in the middle of the century as the great commercial highways: 1, that from Mexico to Vera Cruz; 2, from Mexico to Tuxpam; 3, from Mexico to Cuernavaca; 4, from Mexico to Monte Alto; 5, from Mexico to San Blas, via Querétaro and Guadalajara; 6, from Puebla to Tehuantepec, through Oajaca; 7, from Querétaro to Tampico; and S, from Querétaro to Chihuahua. Silíceo, Mem. Foment. Col. Ind., L. ii. 45-64.
- ↑ In 1827 a board of public highways was established for the purpose of improving roads. Giua de Hac. Rep. Mex., vi. 77-81. In 1861 an order was issued by the government authorizing the different states to provide for the safety of travellers by employing the national guards for their protection. Archivo Mex., Col. Ley., v. 616-18. In 1865, Maximilian, by decree of August 19th, established a superior council on roads and bridges. Col. Leyes Imperio, v. 79-81. Stage lines were established between all the most important towns. The first appears to have commenced running in 1827 between Vera Cruz and the capital, the fare being $70. These coaches were frequently assailed and stoned by the lower classes, from whom the establishment of these lines took away the business of the transportation of passengers. In 1860 stages ran daily from the capital to the port via Puebla and Orizaba, and also to Toluca. A line ran three times a week to Tepic, through Querétaro, Guanajuato, and Guadlalajara, fare $109. These lines transported annually 30,000 passengers, at an average of $20 each. Hernandez, Estadíst. Mej., 39-40. In 1883 lines were running from the capital to Morelia, Guadalajara, Ameca, and San L. Potosí, besides others between different towns. Cor. Fed. Ver., 8 Mar., 1828, 4; Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, iii. 137; Wampüus, Jer. und C. Amer., 92-3; La Nacion, Aug. 20, 1956, 1; El Estendarte Nac., 8 Junio, 1857, 4; Bol. Ofic. Estad. Sin., 27 de Abril, 1873, 62.
