This range has a moderate elevation in the southern States of Chiapas and Oaxaca; but in latitude 19°, the mean altitude is about 9,000 feet above the sea-level, and two peaks, Popocatepetl and Orizaba, rise to the great elevations of 17,720 feet and 17,200 feet respectively. The former mountain is the culminating point of North America.
On the parallel of 21° the Cordillera becomes very wide, and divides itself into three ranges. The eastern branch runs to Saltillo and Monterey; the western branch traverses the States of Jalisco and Sinaloa, and subsides in Northern Sonora; while the central ridge extends through the States of Durango and Chihuahua, forming the water shed of the northern table-land. The range decreases in elevation in going northward.
