from pocket or saddle-bags, and the odour of spirits in the air. The
remedy lies largely in prohibition, but, alas! the country's
legislators are generally great landowners, and part of their revenue
comes from the growing of the _maguey_, or of the sugar-cane, and in
the making and sale of _pulque_ and _aguadiente_.

The dress of the _peon_ is picturesque, and to the foreign observer
ever strikes a note of almost operatic strain. As the sun sets the
_peon_ dons his _poncho_, or _serape_, as the red blanket which is his
invariable outer garment is termed. In the cool air of the morning or
evening he speaks but little, covering his mouth with a corner of the
_serape_, for he has a constant and, as far as the foreigner can
observe, unfounded fear of pneumonia. The crowning point of his dress
is the great conical, broad-brimmed hat, which is the main and peculiar
characteristic of the inhabitants of this land; a national and
remarkable headgear which is met with nowhere else. There is ever a
brigand-like local colour about the Mexican _peon_, and indeed of some
of the upper classes in their national dress. The _peon_, or the
_vaquero_,[32] as he stalks muffled through the streets or _plaza_, or
lurks within his habitation with a corner of the _serape_ thrown over
his shoulder and a knife stuck in his belt, is a subject which might
have stepped from the boards of a theatre! Although he is respectful in
his demeanour, and often devout in his language, the open greeting and
confident demeanour of the Anglo-Saxon is absent. Who can blame him?
The oppression of centuries weighs upon him; he has been doomed to
ignorance and poverty ever since his Iberian conquerors set foot upon
the soil which was his, and the descendants of this same conquering
race do little but perpetuate his melancholy state. In the years since
the Republic was established he has been constantly dragged from his
peaceful labours to serve this or that revolutionary malcontent, and so
made to destroy rather than create industry. And to-day he is the
subject of such unequal wealth and class distinction whose change it
seems impossible to hope for. Yet there is some progress.

[Footnote 32: Cowboy.]

As to the women of the _peones_, their dress is generally sombre-hued
and modest. No scarlet blanket covers them, but a blue _reboso_, or
shawl, which is generally placed over the head in lieu of a hat. The
women of the poorer classes accept, with what to the fore