COWARDICE AND BOLDNESS. 221 



the agility of a dancing master, and inconti- 

 neutly betook himself to his heels. 



The Northern Mexicans have often been 

 branded with cowardice : a stigma which 

 may well be allowed to rest upon the wealthier 

 classes, and the city-bred caballeros, from 

 whose ranks are selected the military leaders 

 who decide the fate of battles. But the ran- 

 cheros, or as they might be still more appro- 

 priately styled — the yeomanry of the country, 

 inured as they are from their peculiar mode 

 of life to every kind of fatigue and danger, 

 possess a much higher calibre of moral cou- 

 rage. Their want of firmness in the field, is 

 partially the result of their want of confidence 

 in their commanders; while the mefficacy 

 and worthlessness of their weapons are al 

 sufficient to inspire even a vahant heart v 

 dismal forebodings. It is true that most of 

 the regular troops are pro\ided with Enghsh 

 muskets, which, by the way, they are gene- 

 rally too ignorant to keep in order; but a 

 great portion of the militia are obliged to use 

 the clumsy old fashioned escopeta, or firelock 

 of the sixteenth century ; while others have 

 nothing but the bow and arrow, and some- 

 times the lance, which is in fact a weapon 

 very much in use throughout the country. I 

 have seen persons of the lower class do things, 

 however, which would really seem to indicate 

 a superlative degree of courage. Some of 

 them ^vill often perform journeys alone 

 through wildernesses teeming with murder- 

 ons savages; but as they not unfrequently 



ith 



19 



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