Central America, lowers again at Panama, but joins directly, at last, with the South American Andes. In this sweep of mountainous territory are hundreds of deep cañons or _barrancas_, great fertile plateaus, and many wonderful mountains. Of these last those about the Valley of Anahuac, the site of Mexico City and for ages the center of Mexican government and population, are the most famous. Here are Popocatepetl (17,520 feet) and Ixtaccihuatl (16,960 feet) the snow-peaked volcanoes, and to the eastward the still more beautiful cone of Orizaba (18,250 feet). Virtually at the same latitude, but far to the west, is Colima, (12,991 feet), a still active volcano. Toluca (14,950 feet), close to the Valley of Mexico, Malinche (14,636 feet) in the state Tlaxcala, the Cofre de Perote (13,400 feet) in the state of Vera Cruz, and Tancitaro (12,664 feet) are those of greatest height. Only the already great altitude of the plateaus of Mexico from which most of the striking mountains spring keeps hundreds of others from filling the eye of the traveler. The scenery which results from the mountainous formations of Mexico is literally unsurpassed, for Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl can give the climber all the thrills of the Alps, and the crater lakes to be found in one or two sections of Mexico rival in splendor the more famous resorts in Europe. The deep and wide _barrancas_ which mark the mountainous formation all through Mexico are magnificent to contemplate, but the day’s journey down and up the sides of such a geological spectacle as the Barranca of Beltran brings home to even the unscientific observer the terrific handicaps which these vast cuts put upon the industrial development of the country. Much of the conquering of these handicaps was achieved under the broad railway policy of President Diaz, and the work done still remains, but many years must now pass before the final conquest is achieved. Such a work as the building of the Colima branch of the Mexican Central, completing the only direct line for the first time from the Capital to the Pacific, will hardly be repeated when revolution threatens, for here, in less than 100 miles, twenty great bridges had to be built, most of them crossing _barrancas_ and cuts of mere geological formation, with virtually no streams filling them even in the rainy season. The Southern Pacific line from the northern border in Sonora lacks but sixty miles of linking up with the Guadalajara branch of the National Railways, but thirty of those sixty miles are through a mountainous territory cut with deep _barrancas_ which will cost close to a million dollars a mile to build.