200 SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



grossly imposed upon. The influx of fo- 

 reigners who are likely now, however, to 

 visit Mexico, will naturally produce an im- 

 provement in this respect. In the Sociedad 

 are several billiard tables, dining and coffee 

 rooms, ice- and confectionary rooms, shops, 

 See. ; which, in the evening, are crowded with 

 company of every description, and greatly 

 infested by importunate beggars, blind and 

 crippled, of the most disgusting description, 

 crawling and rolling on the floors of the 

 apartments, or carried on each other's backs. 

 I have never seen so many miserable objects 

 in any other city, not even excepting Milan ; 

 and yet there are persons who say it is a rare 

 thing to see a lame Indian ! 



The appearance of the shops in Mexico 

 affords no indication of the wealth of the city. 

 Nothing is exposed in the windows; all are 

 open, in the same manner as they were in 

 London till the sixteenth century ; few have 



