288 A TRIP TO MEXICO. 



dropsical diseases. From the great altitude of this country, a 

 rnile and a half above the sea-level, the air is very light, the 

 mercury in the barometer standing at about 23 inches, and for 

 those unaccustomed to the situation, it is difficult to breathe, or 

 at least to get air enough into the lungs. One draws many a 

 long breath; and mounting the long flights to the "first floor," 

 one lias often hard work to get the breathing function into com- 

 fortable working order again. This is no climate for consump- 

 tives. Whoever has not a full and free expansion of the lungs 

 will very soon get out of Mexico. I heard men say there was no 

 satisfaction up there in a good " whisky straight," or any other 

 of the strong Americanisms. The animal functions cannot keep 

 up to the tune of such lively stimulants. 



But what seemed strangest about this city, was its inhabitants. 

 It seemed as if we had been landed in a great overgrown Indian 

 village. Squaws with their pappooses, and half-naked, black- 

 maned urchins filled all the streets and every opening out of 

 them. There was every shade of color, from the copper through 

 all the bronzes to the dirty lead color. But all was Indian, thor- 

 oughly Indian. If we did not know what toned down the color, 

 we should certainly think that these mongrel and parti-colored 

 swarms w r ere the genuine aborigines. This people are much 

 smaller than our northern Indians, but they have the same feat- 

 ures and motions and habits. They carry their burdens on their 

 backs with a band around their foreheads. They have the regu- 

 lar Indian lope when they travel. When at rest they squat on 

 the ground, and can sit there an indefinite time. The females 

 carry the unfailing baby slung in a shawl on their backs ; or if 

 there are two of them, or a burden and a baby, the little one is 

 in front and the other behind, but both in the folds of the same 

 long shawl. 



The Indians are the traders in cheap and fancy things. The 

 markets, the street corners, and 'the portalis are crowded with 

 their little stands, exposing for sale their fruits or their confec- 

 tions, their tasteful handiwork or their fanciful wares. Every 

 morning, on the shady side of some of the principal streets, 

 many native girls who have brought in their flowers from the 



