r is curiously fashioned and
fastened to the boot by straps of stamped leather. Little bells,
campanulas, hang from the teeth of the rowels, and tinkle at the
slightest motion of the foot! Look upward. The calzoneros are not
braced, but fastened at the waist by a silken sash or scarf. It is
scarlet. It is passed several times round the body, and made fast
behind, where the fringed ends hang gracefully over the left hip. There
is no waistcoat. A jacket of dark cloth embroidered and tightly
fitting, short behind, _a la Grecque_, leaving the shirt to puff out
over the scarf. The shirt itself, with its broad collar and flowered
front, exhibits the triumphant skill of some dark-eyed poblana. Over
all this is the broad-brimmed, shadowy sombrero; a heavy hat of black
glaze, with its thick band of silver bullion. There are tags of the
same metal stuck in the sides, giving it an appearance altogether
unique. Over one shoulder is hanging, half-folded, the picturesque
serape. A belt and pouch, an escopette upon which the hand is resting,
a waist-belt with a pair of small pistols stuck under it, a long Spanish
knife suspended obliquely across the left hip, complete the _tout
ensemble_ of him whom I have chosen to describe.

It may answer as a characteristic of the dress of many of his
companions, those of the group that was nearest me. There was variety
in their habiliments, yet the national costume of Mexico was traceable
in all. Some wore leather calzoneros, with a spencer or jerkin of the
same material, close both at front and behind. Some carried, instead of
the pictured serape, the blanket of the Navajoes, with its broad black
stripes. Suspended from the shoulders of others hung the beautiful and
graceful manga. Some were moccasined; while a few of the inferior men
wore the simple guarache, the sandal of the Aztecs.

The countenances of these men were swarth and savage-looking, their hair
long, straight, and black as the wing of a crow; while both beard and
moustache grew wildly over their faces. Fierce dark eyes gleamed under
the broad brims of their hats. Few of them were men of high stature;
yet there was a litheness in their bodies that showed them to be capable
of great activity. Their frames were well knit, and inured to fatigues
and hardships. They were all, or nearly all, natives of the Mexican
border, frontier men, who had often closed in deadly fight with the
Indian foe. They were ciboleros, va