Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/293

Rh king of dressmakers, M. Worth; while the men are fully up to the standard of either Europeans or Americans.

But the gentleman of ease and wealth, supported by the profits of his landed property, is one thing when in the city, clad in European dress, and quite another on his hacienda arrayed in the native garb he so delights in. The swarthy complexion takes on a different cast enhanced by color. The suit of cloth or buckskin, trimmed with a profusion of flashy silver ornaments, a red sash about the waist and full, loose tie at the throat, a gayly bedecked though very heavy sombrero, all go to make up a costume eminently becoming to the dark beauty of the wearer.



Mounted upon his gorgeously caparisoned steed, whose equipments sometimes cost thousands of dollars, he presents a striking picture of a "gay cavalier."

No more charming feature exists in Mexican life than the brilliancy and variety of color in the costumes of the hacendado. The effect of this picturesque attire is most pleasing, not only from its intrinsic beauty, but also for the novelty to English and American eyes, accustomed only to dull, conventional garments worn alike by all our classes. May the hacendado never change his colors!

Sisters have a fancy for dressing exactly alike, so that not a button, hook, or article of jewelry varies. I have counted in one morning six