286 MEXICO. 
the qualities of these men, concur in a high estimate of the Mexican 
soldier, although they do not think so well of the Mexican officer. This, 
in all probability, arises from the irregular manner in which persons 
arrive at command and the want of soldierlike education and discipline.- 
Officers have been, most frequently, taken at once from private life or 
pursuits by no means warlike, and found themselves suddenly at the head 
of troops, without a knowledge of their duties, either in the barrack, camp, 
or field, or a due estimate of the virtues of obedience, and that disciplined 
courage arising from a perfect self-reliance in every emergency. The 
result of this unfortunate state of things has been, that, in conflicts with 
the Texans, while the men have often appeared anxious to fight, they lacked 
officers who were willing to lead them into the thick of the mil^e. 
You can fancy nothing more odd, than the manner in which this army 
is recruited. A number of men are perhaps wanted to complete a new 
company, and a sergeant with his guard is forthwith dispatched to inspect 
the neighboring Indians and Meztizos. The subaltern finds a dozen or 
more at work in the fields; and, without even the formality of a request, 
immediately picks his men and orders them into the ranks. If they at- 
tempt to escape or resist, they aje at once lassoed ; and, at nightfall, the 
whole gang is marched, tied in pairs, into the cuartel of the village or 
the guardroom of the Palace, with a long and lugubrious procession of 
wives and children, weeping and howling for the loss of their martial 
mates. Next day the " volunteers" are handed over to the drill-sergeant ; 
and I have often laughed most heartily at the singular group presented 
by these new-caught soldiers, on their first parade under their military 
tutor. One half of their number are always Indians, and the rest, most 
likely, leperos. One has a pair of trowsers, but no shirit ; another a shirt 
and a pair of drawers ; another hides himself, as well as he can, under his 
blanket and broad-brimmed hat ; another has drawers and a military cap. 
But the most ridiculous looking object 1 remember to have seen in Mexico, 
was a fat and greasy lepero, who had managed to possess himself of a 
pair of trowsers that just reached his hips, and were kept up by a strap 
around his loins, together with an old uniform coat a great deal too short 
lor him both in the sleeves and on the front. As he was not lucky 
enough to own a shirt, a vast continent of brown stomach lay shining in 
the sun between the unsociable garments ! He held his head, which was 
supported by a tall stock, higher than any man in the squad, and marched 
magnificently— especially in " lock step !" 
The drilling of these men is constant and severe. The sergeant is 
generally a well-trained soldier, and unsparing in the use of his long 
hard rod for the slightest symptom of neglect. In a few weeks, after the 
new troops acquire the ordinary routine of duty, they are put into uniform, 
paraded through the streets, and you would scarcely believe they ever had 
