SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 243 



Mules are universally preferred in this 

 country for drawing carriages of every de- 

 scription, as well as for transporting goods 

 and for travelling long journies, being 

 stronger, and capable of enduring more 

 fatigue and privations than the horse. To 

 the carriages used by the nobility and gentry 

 in Mexico and the other principal cities, 

 two handsome mules only are used, yoked 

 with singularly elegant harness; but the 

 heavy clumsy travelling carriages on the 

 public roads are usually drawn by eight or 

 nine mules, and driven by two postillions. 

 These vehicles, when laden for a journey with 

 the household furniture, beds, provisions, &c, 

 which custom renders it necessary to carry 

 with you, make such an appearance or set-out 

 as an Englishman can have no conception 

 of. Each article has to be unladen every 

 night, and carried into a place (I will not 

 call it a room), there to remain till morning, 



ft 2 



