24 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



food and drink, and for cooking (which last is generally performed over 

 a small fire, within a circle of stones outside, and in front, of the main 

 entrance to the dwelling). The principal food of all these people is In- 

 dian corn, in the form of the so-called tortilla, which is prepared by 

 placing a quantity of corn in a jar of hot water and lime (when it can be 

 got) to soak overnight ; the use of the lime being to soften the corn. 

 When it is desired to use it, the grain is taken out and ground by hand 

 on the stone and the roller before mentioned, into a kind of paste, and 

 then slightly dried or baked on an earthen tray or pan over a small 

 fire. Everybody in Mexico is said to eat tortillas, and their prepara- 

 tion, which is always assigned to the women, seems to employ their 

 whole time, " to the exclusion of any care of the dwelling, their chil- 

 dren, or themselves." Foreigners, especially Americans, find them 

 detestable. Another standard article of Mexican diet is boiled beans 

 (frijoles). Meat is rarely used by the laborers, but, when it is ob- 

 tainable, every part of the animal is eaten. Peppers, both green and 

 red, mixed with the corn-meal or beans, are regarded as almost indis- 

 pensable for every meal, and, when condensed by cooking, are de- 

 scribed by one, who obviously speaks from experience, as forming " a 

 red-hot mixture whose savage intensity is almost inconceivable to an 

 American. ... A child of six or seven years old will eat more of this 

 at a meal than most adult Americans could in a week eating it, too, 

 without meat or grease of any kind ; merely folding up the tortilla of 

 wheat or corn-meal, dipping up a spoonful of the terrible compound 

 with it, and hastily biting off the end, for fear some of the precious 

 stuff should escape. Should one be fortunate enough to have anything 

 else to eat, these tortillas serve as plates, after which service the plates 

 eaten." 



With all this, the agricultural laborers of Mexico, both Indians 

 and mixed bloods, are almost universally spoken of as an industrious, 

 easily managed, and contented people. By reason of the general 

 mildness of the climate, the necessary requirements for living are 

 fewer than among people inhabiting the temperate and more north- 

 ern latitudes, and consequently poverty with them does not imply ex- 

 treme suffering from either cold or starvation. W r hen their simple 

 wants are satisfied, money with them has little value, and quickly finds 

 its way into the pockets of the almost omnipresent pulque or "lot- 

 tery-ticket " sellers, or the priest. " If they are too ready to take a 

 hand against the Government at the call of some discontented leader, 

 it is not because they are Indian or Mexican, but because they are poor 

 and ignorant." 



One noticeable peculiarity of the Mexican laborer is the strength 

 of his local attachments, and it is in rare instances only that he volun- 

 tarily emigrates from the place of his nativity. This circumstance 

 found a curious illustration in the experience of the recent railroad 

 constructions in Mexico, where the builders found that they could rely 



