LAND OF MEXICO

soft word from the United States from the southern border of Texas to that of California where the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean seem as if trying to pinch the North American continent to a narrow isthmus lies the Republic of Mexico the central portion is a high plateau bordered by the sierra madre mountains on the west and on the east along the east coast is a narrow fringe of tropical low end this part of Mexico is hot and humid with sand and palms and occasionally dense tropical forests most of the villages are small thatched Hut Affairs near to citrus orchards or pineapple or banana plantations or lumbering activities in this region there are few harbors but at Veracruz the harbor has been improved until it has become one of the chief gateways for imported products even more important are the exports of raw materials such as oil hemp and lumber here imported manufactured articles and bags of sugar are being loaded into cars destined for the interior back from the coast the land Rises abruptly here high bluffs and steep grades are encountered this region is rich in water power largely undeveloped is yet a few roads wind along mountain signs but the steep grades have hampered railway construction here we find a wealth of mineral resources at this large silver mine indicates this is one of the largest silver mining operations in Mexico and Mexico produces one-third of all the silver mind throughout the earth punctuating the mountain ranges that rise so abruptly our splendid volcanic peaks such as lofty orizaba shown here inland from these ranges along the hills and valleys of the fertile but semi-arid central plateau well most of the Mexican people the heart of the country is Mexico City part of it is almost as Spanish as it was two centuries ago here is its historical plaza of saturda mingle reminiscent of Spanish rule that started with Cortez conquest but many business streets of Mexico City have an obviously modern appearance as if gasoline station indicates mexico city itself has many automobiles this drugstore is the latest in style and stock modernity speaks from every line of this hotel and of this home for cry from the mexican village adobe house on the other hand here is a mexico city market place where sale and barter go on the exchange of products from native soil or imported from foreign lands aside from its capital city mexico today is largely the land and the plow cloudland the oxen and the ploughman living on the land and from the land corn is the principal crop in the main food of mexico after a summer of planting and painstaking cultivation come as a welcome harvest of autumn the tops of these corn stalks have been cut off everywhere the ripened ears are plucked from the stock and tossed into the baskets homemade and slung over the back the majority areas are dumped into files and later carried to the homes of the workers where they are shelled the corn is stored in outdoor granaries built of corn stock and Adobe until it is needed by the housewife for grinding into meal wheat also comes from the land here it is being whittled by crossing the stocks high in the breeze thus separating the chaff from the week throughout the plateau the organ cactus grows and from the land this is cut and immediately restored to the land to grow and form living fences the Mexican truly lives on the land and from the land from the river's edge or the field comes a cattle the bamboo like read so widely used in the many household basket making establishment one of the most valued gifts of the land easy earth itself the clay like soil called Adobe from this most of the houses of Mexico are built here dry adobe clay is being spread out by one man while another sprinkled straws on it for reinforcements clay and straw mix thoroughly with water added into a stiff more turn when this mixture reaches its proper consistency it is camp solidly down into a mold having the size and shape of the desired brick the fresh moist slabs are placed in the Sun to dry and these are transported on the backs of donkeys to the site of the building being constructed the large size of the adobe slab makes wall construction a fairly rapid process in the sunny dry climate of the Mexican plateau an adobe house will last many years the thick walls serve as insulation against extremes of heat and cold [Applause] Adobe slabs adobe mortar with coarse gravel for reinforcements in the cracks thus from the land the Mexican builds his home periodically the products of the land and of hand craft shops are made ready for taking to market perhaps in the nearest village a few miles away or possibly a community several days distant bar over hill and valley pottery grain fruits all surplus products of home and field have their outlet in some hillside village at market time from the land to the market here today on the flanks of a hillside down the slope from the old church which occupies the commanding position in the village a typical mexican market day scene is taking place shades made of thinly woven cotton shelter vendors buyers and products no mexican market would be complete without its array of pottery made from the clay of the land and fashioned for a wide variety of uses no Mexican house wife buys without first a careful inspection of the prospective purchase apples perhaps from a distant hillside hence the palate of the market gourd a surplus of garden radishes and onions is offered in another stall the formidable chili pepper is a staple article for seasoning and corn for grinding into meal for tortilla or enchilada by village house wire these pineapples have traveled far from humid coastal lowlands to become a tempting part of the more expensive fruit offering potatoes too are somewhat in the nature of delicacies for the more unusual meal so careful weighing in crude beam balance exchange of products here may be either by outright sale or by the ancient way of barter this swine razor is offering gossip as well as big market day offers a chance for seeing others for exchanging ideas and for entertainment as well oh my god walk on sunday [Music] soon another yarn another one of here [Music] you 25 in the orange and offers and he was just way now so come so far in Oregon emotion people just way now haha the these market days in villages throughout the vast agricultural plateau of Mexico symbolize the activities of the people living on and living from the land you