34 



PEONAGE WHIPPING PLANTER-LIFE. 



prietor, and as that personage usually possesses considerable in- 

 fluence in his neighborhood, the laborer finds it extremely difficult 

 or nearly impossible to enforce his freedom even by appeals to the 

 legal authorities. Such is the origin and system of peonage, which 

 still curses Mexico although the repartimientos and slavery have 

 been abolished by fundamental laws. 



We have observed that there are other punishments of the In- 

 dians resorted to on Mexican plantations for trifling faults or mis- 

 demeanors, besides the great and final calamity of expulsion. 

 They are fined and they are flogged. u Looking into the corri- 

 dor," says Mr. Stephens, in his work on Yucatan, " we saw a 

 poor Indian on his knees, on the pavement, with his arms clasped 

 around the knees of another Indian, so as to present his back fairly 

 to the lash. At every blow he rose on one knee and sent forth a 

 piercing cry, he seemed struggling to retain it, but it burst forth in 

 spite of all his efforts. His whole bearing showed the subdued 

 character of the present Indians, and with the last stripe the ex- 

 pression of his face seemed that of thankfulness for not getting 

 more. Without uttering a word, he crept to the major-domo, took 

 his hand, kissed it, and walked away. No sense of degradation 

 crossed his mind. Indeed, so humbled is this once fierce people 

 that they have a proverb of their own : " Los Indios no oyien sino 

 por las nalgas," — " The Indians only hear through their backs." 



This hereditary condition or relation between the Indian and 

 the original Spanish races has acted and re-acted for their mutual 

 degradation. With a large population under his control, for all 

 purposes of labor and menial toil, the Spaniard, of whatever class, 

 found himself entirely free from the necessity of manual labor or 

 mechanical pursuits. Notwithstanding this immunity from bodily 

 toil, the native of Castile did not devote the leisure he enjoyed, 

 whilst the Indians were working for him, either to the improve- 

 ment of his mind, or the preparation of philanthropic plans for the 

 amelioration of his servant's lot. A mere physical life of personal 

 indulgence, or an avaricious devotion to the rapid acquisition of 

 fortune, absorbed the whole time of these planters, who lived in 

 almost utter seclusion amid the lonely wastes of their large terri- 

 torial possessions. The planter who resides in a populous nation, 

 or who is enabled to visit easily the capitals of commerce, literature, 

 and art, is a man, who, from his personal independence, culture, and 

 wealth, is usually in our own country to be envied for the peculiai 

 privileges which his station affords him. But in Mexico, the posi 



