ed the pleasing and refined civilisation of their
southern neighbours. The North American, or _Americano_, is often known
in Mexico as the "Yankee"--not used in an offensive sense, but as a
convenient designation. This is varied by the still less distinguished
term of "gringo," and indeed, both these terms are employed, not only
in Mexico, but thousands of miles below, in South America--Ecuador,
Peru, Chile. The latter is not necessarily an opprobrious term, and it
is applied to all Anglo-Saxons, British or American, and, indeed, in
South America, to all Europeans of a fair complexion. Its derivation
has been expounded by various writers as having come from the words of
a song sung by some British or American sailors upon landing at a
Mexican port, but the etymology seems doubtful. That of "Yankee" is
more assured--the corruption of "English," or "Anglais," or "Ingles,"
employed by the Indians of North America towards the early settlers.

Conditions of life and travel in Mexico vary greatly according to the
region we may be called upon to traverse. On the great plateau such as
I have described, the hand of civilisation prevails, even if its
evidences are at times far apart. In the tropical lowlands, whether of
the Gulf or of the Pacific side of the country, we may be much more
seriously thrown upon our own resources, whether for food, transport,
or habitation. In the State of Guerrero there are yet large tracts of
land absolutely unexplored, and the numerous tribes of Indians
inhabiting certain of the tropical regions are under scarcely more than
the semblance of control. Yet it cannot be said that they are ferocious
or dangerous. Some of them, indeed, are cowardly, and will not even
venture far from their villages for fear of wild beasts, whilst others
form the most active and fearless guides, varying characteristics which
show the wide range of peoples embodied in the country, as set forth in
a previous chapter. Whilst Mexico cannot be called a "sportsman's
paradise," there is in certain regions a great profusion of game, from
turkeys to crocodiles. The _guajalote_, or Mexican wild turkey, with
its great red beard and shimmering blue-black plumage, is a conspicuous
inhabitant of Tamaulipas and other wild regions, and its low flight and
plump body render it comparatively easy of securing, whilst it forms an
excellent addition to the bill of fare. Huge wild cats abound in the
broken country, and _osos_, or Mexican bears.