FIGHTING COCKS : QUERETARO, MEXICO 



The peon with Spanish blood in his veins is nearly always fond of the sight of gore. 

 At a Mexican cockpit the betting is faster and more furious than the fun at a three-ring 

 circus, and the enthusiasm is about as great when the steel-spurred cocks cut one another to 

 pieces as when a mad bull gores a horse to death in the bull-ring. Moral sense, after all, it 

 would seem, is largely a question of geography. 



work. With this they could produce all 

 the effect of a beautiful mosaic. The 

 gorgeous plumage of the tropical birds, 

 especially of the parrot tribe, afforded 

 every variety of color; and the fine down 

 of the humming-bird, which reveled in 

 swarms among the honeysuckle bowers 

 of Mexico, supplied them with soft aerial 

 tints that gave an exquisite finish to the 

 picture. The feathers, pasted on a fine 

 cotton web, were wrought into dresses 

 for the wealthy, hangings for apartments, 

 and ornaments for the temples. Xo one 



of the American fabrics excited such ad- 

 miration in Europe, whither numerous 

 specimens were sent by the Conquerors. 

 The ancient city of Mexico covered the 

 same spot occupied bv the modern capi- 

 tal. The great causeways touched it in 

 the same points ; the streets ran in much 

 the same direction, nearly from north to 

 south and from east to west ; the cathe- 

 dral in the plaza mayor stands on the 

 same ground that was covered by the 

 temple of the Aztec war-god, and the 

 four principal quarters of the town are 



25 



