e that the sinister
authority which did those things is only slumbering, and did not
civilisation and antagonism restrain it those scenes would be repeated.
The germs of an Inquisition exist in almost every religious
organisation, but the old original one would burn its victims again if
it could!

As to the Teocallis, perhaps their form was suggested by the natural
pyramidal hills of the mountain landscape, whereon men must have stood
to watch the sunset and feel nearer heaven, even in those savage lands.
Even to-day this hill-ascending influence is not banished among the
primitive class of the Mexican people. Every hill in the neighbourhood
of a hamlet is surmounted by a cross, up to which culminating point
processions constantly ascend. Indeed, at times the devout--or
fanatic--Indian and _peon_ ascends these rocky steeps upon his knees,
leaving blood-spots to mark his way! Processions of fanatic Indians
were formerly common; they journeyed over great distances upon their
knees towards some popular shrine, and although the law now prohibits
these, they are surreptitiously carried out at times, and I have
witnessed them myself. Onwards and upwards towards the "Unknown God"
these poor people grope their way--

"Upon the great world's altar stairs."

Can we say much more of the most civilised among us?

Much of beauty and interest there is in a study of both the old and new
religions of this land; much of the romance of the former we may feel,
as, standing on the pyramid whence the rays of the orb of day were
flashed back from the golden breastplate of Tonatiah in days of yore,
we mark the sun-god of the Aztecs sink in the Occident.

CHAPTER XII
MEXICAN LIFE AND TRAVEL (_continued_)

Anthropogeographical conditions--The Great Plateau--The tropical belt--
Primitive villages--Incidents of travel on the plateau--Lack of water--
Hydrographic conditions--Venomous vermin--Travel by roads and
_diligencias_--A journey with a priest--Courtesy of the _peon_ class--
The curse of alcohol--The dress of the working classes--The women of
the _peon_ class--Dexterity of the natives--The bull-fights--A narrow
escape--Mexican horse equipment--The _vaquero_ and the lasso--Native
sports--A challenge to a duel--Foreigners in Mexico--Unexplored
Guerrero--Sporting conditions--Camp life--A day's hunting.

The picturesque incidents of life and travel in Mexico vary much
according to the particular part of the country we may be