236 



SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



sometimes barley. I have seen good green 

 oats in the neighbourhood of Xalapa, but 

 never witnessed their being given to horses 

 in their ripe or dried state. Whilst on a 

 journey they are not suffered to drink : very 

 few are shod, and those that are, seldom have 

 more than two shoes. Their saddles and ac- 

 coutrements are very large and heavy : they 

 are easy and safe for the rider, but it is a rare 

 thing to see a horse return from a journey 

 without a sore back. I have always preferred 

 my English saddle to that of the Spanish, 

 and in several journies performed in com- 

 pany, my little nag was the only one that 

 came back uninjured. 



Nothing on entering the kingdom of 

 Mexico strikes the newly arrived European 

 as more ridiculous than the huge, heavy, 

 unwieldy trappings with which the paysanas 

 encumber these useful animals. An immense 

 saddle, with large armas de aguas of skin 



