A PRECIPITATE EXIT. 97 
As the revenue officers of Northern Mexico 
are not celebrated for liberality and disinterest- 
edness, I took it for granted that my friend of 
the custom-house was actuated by selfish mo- 
tives, and therefore proffered him a remunera- 
tion for the trouble he had taken on my 
account; but to my surprise, he positively 
refused accepting anything, observing that he 
held it the duty of every honest man to assist 
his fellow creatures in case of difficulty. It 
is truly a pleasant task to bear record of such 
instances of disinterestedness, in the midst of 
so many contaminating influences. 
While speaking of gueas, I may as well re- 
mark that they.are also frequently required for 
specie and always for bullion. s is often 
very annoying to the traveller, not ay be- 
cause it is sometimes inconvenient to find an 
endorser, but because the robbers are thus en- 
abled to obtain precise and timely information 
of the funds and route of every traveller; for 
they generally have their agents in all the prin- 
cipal cities, who are apt to collude with some 
of the custom-house clerks, and thus procure 
regular reports of the departures, with the 
amounts of valuables conveye 
I was not long in taking leave of Aguasca- 
lentes, and heard nothing more of the impress- 
ment of my mules. It was not my good for- 
tune, however, to remain for any length of 
time out of trouble. Being anxious to take 
the city of Zacatecas in my route without 
jeoparding my goods, I took passage by the 
os Geni while my wagons continued on in 
VOL. 9 
