MEXICO. 



419 



employment, which is generally uncertain, and in which much is risked that more may be 

 gained. Gaming is the very passion to find aliment in El Dorado. The original conquest of 

 Mexico was one of unequalled hazard. All was put at stake, and all was won. The descend- 

 ants of the conquerors cidtivate the same spirit ; and in Mexico there is no tertulia, no social 

 meeting whatever, without gaming. 



The favorite national pastime is cock-fighting, and it is amusing to a stranger, who partakes 

 not in the excitement, to see the zeal of all that engage in it. The cock-pit is neutral ground ; 

 it is like the place of the Olympian games, a spot where all conflicting ranks and parties may 

 meet in peace, and upon terms of strict equality. Here a general is to be seen betting with a fel- 

 low in rags ; for people apparently in the depths of poverty, often hazard a doubloon. All ranks 

 meet at the cock-pit. The money staked is put into the hands of brokers, who pay it over to 

 the winners, and receive a small gratuity from each. As the birds are armed with slashers, the 

 contest is not long., A large sum accrues to government from licenses for the pits. At Gua- 

 naxuato, a traveler, who was annoyed all night by a general crowing, beheld in the morning more 

 than 100 cocks arranged on each side of the street, and chained together. They belonged to 

 the commandant, who was an amateur. 



13. Education. The surface of society has not of late been sufficiently calm for the exten- 

 sion of the means of education ; and though there are a few Lancasterian schools, the facilities 

 for obtaining a good education are'perhaps less than they were under the sway of the Spaniards. 

 Ample legislative provision, however, has been made, though little else has been done. The 

 old school of Mines has no longer any students, and the very edifice is in ruins. The funds 

 have been directed to other purposes. It formerly educated many young men as practical en- 

 gineers, and in all useful branches of learning, but especially in natural philosophy. The Lhii- 

 versity, though well endowed, has at present but few students, though there have been 200 at a 

 time. Tne library is small. There are some inferior colleges and several large schools, under 

 the direction of the clergy. The education of the higher classes is generally private, and, of 

 course, it is seldom thorough. There are no large bookstores, and but few private libraiies of 

 a valuable kind ; the hbrary of tl>e cathedral, however, is large, though the books are chiefly on 

 theological subjects. 



There is little diffusion of knowledge, though generally all the inhabitants of cities can read 

 and write. It is not rare to see men in the streets in the garb of extreme poverty, reading the 

 gazettes, which are published in Mexico on every other day. There may be seen in the streets 

 too, as at Rome and Naples, scribes, to read and answer the letters of those who are unable to 

 perform these services for themselves. Medical and chirurgical knowledge is in a low state ; 

 dissections are forbidden by law, or prohibited by public opinion. The course of instruction 

 in the colleges includes a little Latin, some philosophy, law, and such theology as the clergy 

 are able or willing to communicate. The education of females is neglected, though they have 

 shown themselves endowed with the power of making much in this way, of few advantages, 

 and some of them have become intelligent in spite of the deficiency of the usual means of in- 

 struction. 



14. State of the Arts. If we except architecture, there are few monuments of art in Mex- 

 ico. The churches are profusely decorated, but the images and paintings are gaudy without 

 beauty. There is, however, a talent for the imitative arts, that needs only favorable circum- 

 stances to bring it forth. When instruction was given in drawing at the school of Mines, the 

 rapid proficiency of some of the students was almost beyond parallel. The Indians show 

 much talent in this way, and they make clay models of the different races, and their costumes, 

 with admirable fidelity. There was lately in the great square at Mexico a bronze equestrian 

 statue of Charles the Fourth, till it was removed, from republican scruples. It was the pro- 

 duction of a Mexican, Tolsa ; and it is considered inferior only to the statue of Marcus Aure- 

 lius, at Rome. The school of Mines has a valuable collection of casts, purchased by the 

 Spanish government. And the Laocoon, the Apollo Belvidere, and other statues of antiqui- 

 ty, are found in the new world, at an elevation equal to that of the convent of St. Bernard in 

 the old. 



15. Religion. The Roman Catholic is the religion of Mexico, and there are few believers 

 in any other ; the distinction is strongly defined by the laws, that it is not lawful for a Protes- 

 tant, until converted, to marry a Catholic. The influence of the clergy is of course very 

 great, though it is on the decline. The clergy had a great agency in producing the first revo- 

 lution, for they shared in all the disadvantages and disabilities of the Creoles. The number of 



