MEXICO. 



485 



everywhere too plentiful for human comfort. 

 Humming-birds of many species flit among the 

 luxuriant herbage of the plains. 



The present population of Mexico, some- 

 where between eight and nine millions in num- 

 ber, may be conveniently divided into four 

 classes: 1. The pure Spaniards, who num- 

 ber at the present time not more than 24,000, 

 and are politically the most degraded class. 

 These are called, in the country, Chapetones. 

 In the palmy days of the Spanish domination 

 they never numbered more than 80,000. 2. The 

 Creoles, or native whites of European descent. 

 They are about 1,500,000 in number, and form 

 the wealthiest and most influential portion 

 of the people in social life. 3. The Indi- 

 ans or native Mexicans, who constitute the 

 great mass of the laboring population, espe- 

 cially in the rural districts. There are proba- 

 bly about 4,000,000 of this class. 4. The 

 mixed races, mulattoes, mestizoes, zamboes, 

 quadroons, etc. Persons of all colors, pure 

 and mixed, are admitted on a footing of equal- 

 ity to all political rights. The whites chiefly 

 inhabit the table-lands, and the mulattoes and 

 mestizoes dwell in the lowlands. 



The aboriginal inhabitants, or Indians, of 

 Mexico, comprise many distinct tribes, among 

 which twenty different languages are spoken. 

 Grammars and dictionaries of fourteen of these 

 languages have been published. These Mexi- 

 cans constitute two quite distinct classes of 

 people, the Mansos, who mix with the other 

 portions of the population on more or less am- 

 icable terms, have fixed abodes and regular 

 occupation, and have in a measure adopted the 

 habits and customs of civilized life; and the 

 Bravos, who are wild hunters and warriors, 

 like most of the other North American Indi- 

 ans, keeping aloof from all intercourse with 

 the white inhabitants. The Bravos are found 

 chiefly in the States on the Gila and upper 

 Eio Grande. Some of them are constantly in 

 a state of warfare, and they form several bold 

 and independent tribes. One tribe, the Mayas r 

 inhabit the region about the isthmus of Te- 

 huantepec and the borders of Central America. 

 The Mansos have adopted the Roman Catholic 

 religion to a great extent and take a delight 

 in the ceremonies of that Church. They are 

 in general quite superstitious, and very sub- 

 missive to the authority of those who are 

 placed over them in any capacity. They are 

 scattered over the country as farm-laborers and 

 artisans, and in a few cases have acquired prop- 

 erty and a position of comparative respecta- 

 bility; but for the most part they are indo- 

 lent and ignorant, and take no interest in any 

 of the higher affairs of life. 



The natives of Mexico dwell mostly in huts 

 of light trellis-work, and live in the most prim- 

 itive style. Their dress consists of a pair of 

 drawers or a petticoat, and a single outer gar- 

 ment, called a serape, which serves for a cloak 

 by day and a coverlet by night, under which 

 they sleep on a rough mat or the bare ground. 



A sorry jade of a horse is generally seen feed- 

 ing near each hut, and a scanty garden of 

 maize and bananas furnishes the family supplies. 

 Here the Indian lolls in the sunshine and 

 sleeps, or drinks pulque and sings to his man- 

 dolin the hymns of Nuestra Sefiora de Guada- 

 lupe. 



Mexico is a lazy country, but the leading 

 pursuit of the people is cultivating the soil, or 

 rather obtaining crops from the land with very 

 little genuine cultivation. Bananas are raised 

 in immense quantities, and form an important 

 article of food, especially among the poor sort 

 of people. The banana is propagated by 

 cuttings, and a very slight degree of labor suf- 

 fices to obtain vast crops. According to the 

 statement of Humboldt, one acre of land plant- 

 ed with bananas will produce enough for the 

 sustenance of fifty persons, while the same ex- 

 tent sown with wheat would not afford sub- 

 sistence for two individuals. The only labor 

 required is a little digging of the earth about 

 the roots of the plants twice a year, and the 

 harvesting of the fruit. Beside a little patch 

 of cultivated ground, oftentimes a cabin may 

 be seen, swarming with children, while the par- 

 ents take no thought of the morrow, but put 

 the most implicit faith in the bananas. Next 

 to these, the most important crop is manioca, 

 or cassava, a plant somewhat resembling the 

 potato, the farina of which is used in making a 

 very nutritious article of bread. In the more 

 elevated regions the staple article of food is 

 maize, which flourishes here in great vigor, 

 and in favorable seasons yields an abundant 

 crop. It is no rare occurrence, however, for 

 a year of drought to produce a severe famine, 

 and in all such cases the general improvidenco 

 of the people causes the most wide-spread suf- 

 fering. Systematic means of irrigating the 

 soil would effectually guard against these ter- 

 rible visitations of famine, but no system 'or 

 order is observed, and no enterprise displayed 

 in cultivating the land. The vine and olive 

 might be made to flourish where now the fields 

 appear barren. The only process required is 

 irrigation. 



No -country in the world is richer in mineral 

 resources than Mexico, but little is done at the 

 present time toward utilizing this means of 

 national wealth. Before, the war of indepen- 

 dence, according to Humboldt, there were in 

 New Spain over three thousand mines, produ- 

 cing $21,000,000 in silver and $2,000,000 in 

 gold every year, but many of the old mines 

 have been abandoned, and the rest have greatly 

 declined since that time in productiveness. It 

 is not in the least probable that the supply of 

 valuable metals is exhausted, but the methods 

 of working the mines are the most crude and 

 awkward imaginable, and little enterprise is 

 shown in the management of this great inter- 

 est. The machinery and processes employed 

 are the same which were in use a century ago, 

 and there is little doubt that modern improve- 

 ments applied to those old and apparently ex- 



