324 MEXICAJC HOUSES. 



cints, or neighborhoods, within short distancee of each other, among 



which Arroj'o Hondo ie the principal. 



This section of country is very romantic, and afforda many scenes to 

 excite the admiration of beholders. It is shut in by lofty mountains, 

 upon three sides, that tower to an altitude of several thousand feet, now 

 presenting their pine-clad summits among the clouds, now with denu- 

 ded crests defying the tempest ; and tlien peering skyward to hold con- 

 verse with the scathing blasts of unending winter. 



The mountiuis are rich in minerals of various kinds. Gold is found in 

 considerable quantities in their vicinity, and would doubtless yield a large 

 profit to diggers, were they possessed of the requisite enterprise and 

 capital. At present tliese valuable mines are almost entirely neglected 

 — the commji.i people being too ignorant and poor to work them, and 

 the rich too indolent and fond of ease. 



The [Mexican? possess large ranches of sheep, horses, mules, and cat- 

 tle among the mountains, which are kept there ihe entire year, by a 

 degraded set of beings, following no business but that of herdsmen, 

 or ranchercs. 



This cliss of people have no loftier aspirations than to throw the 

 tasso witli dexterit}', and break wild mules and horses. 



They have scarcely an idea of any other place than the little circle in 

 which they move, nor dream of a more happy state of existence than their 

 own. Half-naked and scantily fed, they are contented with the miserable 

 pittance doled out to them by the proud lordlings they serve, while their 

 wild songs merrily echo through the hills as they pursue their ceaseless 

 vocations till deatli drops his dark curtain o'er the scene. 



There are no people on the continent of America, whether civilized or 

 nncivilized, with one or two exceptions, m.ore miserable in condition or des- 

 picable in morals than the mongrel race inhabiting New Mexico. In say- 

 mg this, I deal in generalities ; but were I to particularize the observation 

 would hold good in a lirge majority of cases. 



Next to the squalid appearance of its inhabitants, the first thing that 

 arrests the attention of tiie traveller on entering an Mexican settlement, is 

 the uninviting mud walls that form the rude hovels which constitute its 

 dwellings. 



These are one story high and built of adobies, with small windows, (like 

 the port-holes of a fortiiication,) generally without glass. Th« entrance is 

 by an opening in the side, verj' low, and frequently unprotected by a door. 

 The roof is a terrace of sod, reposing upon a layer of small logs, affording 

 but poor protection from the weather. 



The interior presents an aspect quite as forbidding ; — the floors are sim- 

 ply the naked ground, — chairs and tables are articles rarely met with. In 

 case of an extra room, it is partitioned off by a thin wall of mud, commu- 

 nicating with it^ neighbor through a small window-shaped aperture, and 

 serves tlie double purpose of a chamber and store-house. 



A few rags, tattered blankets, or old robes, furnish beds for its inmates, 

 who, at nightfall, stow themselves away promiscuously upon the ground 

 or in narrow bins, and snooze their rounds despite the swarms of noxious 

 Tsnnin that infest thsm, (companions from which they ars Mldom &M; 



