_A_ as in English "ah"; _e_, at the end of a syllable, like _a_ in "fame," otherwise like _e_ in "let"; _i_ like _i_ in "machine"; _o_, at the end of a syllable, like _o_ in "go," otherwise somewhat like _o_ in "lot"; _u_ like _u_ in "rude" (but, unless marked with two dots, silent between _g_ or _q_ and _e_ or _i_); _y_ like _ee_ in "feet." _C_ like _k_ (but, before _e_ and _i,_ like [C]_th_ in "thin"); _ch_ as in "child"; _g_ as in "go" (but, before _e_ and _i_, like a harsh _h_); _h_ silent; _j_ like a harsh _h_; _ll_ like [D]_lli_ in "million"; _ñ_ like _ni_ in "onion"; _qu_ like _k_; _r_ is sounded with a vibration (trill) of the tip of the tongue (_rr_ a longer and more forcible sound of the same kind); _s_ as in "sun"; _x_ like _x_ in "box" (but, in "México" and a few other names, like Spanish _j_); _z_ like [C]_th_ in "thin." Words bearing no mark of accentuation are stressed on the last syllable if they end in any consonant except _n_ or _s_, but on the syllable next to the last if they end in _n_, _s_ or a vowel. [C] In Mexico, however, usually like _s_ in "sun." [D] In Mexico usually like _y_. [Illustration: MEXICO IN 1919] THE WAR WITH MEXICO I MEXICO AND THE MEXICANS 1800-1845 Mexico, an immense cornucopia, hangs upon the Tropic of Cancer and opens toward the north pole. The distance across its mouth is about the same as that between Boston and Omaha, and the line of its western coast would probably reach from New York to Salt Lake City. Nearly twenty states like Ohio could be laid down within its limits, and in 1845 it included also New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California and portions of Colorado and Wyoming.[1.1] On its eastern side the ground rises almost imperceptibly from the Gulf of Mexico for a distance varying from ten to one hundred miles, and ascends then into hills that soon become lofty ranges, while on the western coast series of cordilleras tower close to the ocean. Between the two mountain systems lies a plateau varying in height from 4000 to 8000 feet, so level--we are told--that one could drive, except where deep gullies make trouble, from the capital of Montezuma to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The country is thus divided into three climatic zones, in one or another of which, it has been said, every plant may be found that grows between the pole and the equator.[1.1][E] [E] It will be seen that occasionally the same "superior figure" is attached to several paragraphs, and that sometimes these reference numbers are not in consecutive order. The reasons will be discovered when the reader consults the notes, which follow the text of each volume.