JALAPA, or Xalapa, the Aztec Xalapan, a town of Mexico, in the state of Vera Cruz, and about 70 miles inland from the city and port of that name, with which it communicates by a railway opened since 1870. There are few towns in Mexico which are so happily situated: at a height of 4500 feet above the sea, on the edge of the plateau behind which towers the summit of Macultepec, it looks out over the rich lowlands of the tierra cαliente, enjoying their beauty and escaping their baneful vapours. The immediate vicinity is abundantly fertile, and yields a harvest of rare variety for the botanist. The town lost much of its importance as a commercial entrepot by the opening of the railway from Vera Cruz via Orizaba to Mexico, but the line above mentioned may help to restore its prosperity. Of chief note among the public buildings are the principal church and the old Franciscan monastery, built in 1555. The population is stated at 10,000.