MEXICAN MOUNTAINEER. 193 



preparing supper, under the direction of a peasant, 

 a tall copper-coloured, semi-barbarous native of the 

 forest ; but who notwithstanding his uncivilized 

 appearance, turned out to be a very shrewd fel- 

 low, and gave us sufficiently pertinent answers to 

 most of our queries. The young Spaniard of our 

 party, a Royalist by birth, and half a Patriot in 

 sentiment, asked him what harm the King had 

 done, that the Mexicans should have thrown him 

 off? " Why,'''' answered he, as for the King, 

 his only fault, at least that I know about, was his 

 living too far off: if a king really be good for a 

 country, it appears to me, that he ought to live 

 in that country, not two thousand leagues away 

 from it.'" On asking him what his opinion was of 

 the free trade people were talking so much about ? 

 " My opinion of the free trade,"" said the moun- 

 taineer, " rests on this, — formerly I paid nine 

 dollars for the piece of cloth of which this shirt is 

 made, I now pay two- — that forms my opinion of 

 the free trade."" The Spaniard was fairly bafHed. 



S\st of March. — At daybreak next morning, 

 after travelling over the hills, we came in sight 

 of Tepic, a beautiful town, in the midst of a cul- 



VOL. II. N 



