154} Ten Years of my Life. 



they can carry vvith apparent ease. The skin of the Indians 

 is brown, but not more so ^han that of gipsies ; their hair is 

 black, their teeth very fine, and the beard is with the men not 

 much developed. 



Not a few amongst the followers of Cortez married rich 

 Azteke girls, and from such unions, which became more and 

 more frequent in time, sprung up a bastard race — Creoles. 

 Many of them are rancheros or farmers, and these are con- 

 sidered as the best part of the nation. Amongst them are 

 very rich people, and as they have not much opportunity of 

 getting rid of their money — gambling excepted — they love to 

 wear very rich dresses. I have described the riding costume 

 of a Mexican gentleman. That of the rich ranchero is similar, 

 but differs in some trifles. He wears white drawers reaching 

 to the knee, and these are fastened by fine garters to the 

 leathern zepateros, embroidered in different colours. Under 

 the garters hangs by a steel chain a sharp knife, to cut the lasso 

 if required. Over his drawers he wears trousers, open at one 

 side from the knee down, and set with large fine buttons, 

 mostly of solid silver, but not rarely of gold, each consisting 

 of the largest gold coin of the country. Such a pair of ' cal- 

 zoneras ^ are worth a whole fortune. His jacket is made of 

 coffee-coloured leather, and set with silver cords on the shoulders 

 and its back part. His large hat — ' jarano ' — with wide gold- 

 laced rims, is ornamented with silver and gold, and from his 

 belt of crimson silk hang down behind golden tassels. Of 

 course, saddle and bridle are richly studded with silver and 

 gold. The hind-part of the horse is covered by a brilliant 

 anguera ; the lasso is behind the saddle, and a sword is fastened 

 to the latter. Round his neck the ranchero generally wears a 

 crimson silk neckerchief He looks extremely picturesque, 

 and would make a prominent figure in any circus. 



The amusements and sports of these people are rather rude. 

 Their greatest pleasure is to show their skill and strength 

 against the bull. One of their amusements seems to be very 

 difficult to the performer and rather disagreeable to the bull. 

 The poor fellow is frightened in some manner or another, and 

 when running away he is followed by a crowd of rancheros on 

 horseback. Whoever approaches him first catches hold of his 

 tail with his right hand, draws up his right knee to use it as a 

 sup})ort for the elbow, and with a skilful strong twist the bull 

 is knocked off his legs, after which the rider runs on. 



