Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/405

Rh in the life and character of these Indians. Vast estates were once theirs. Their flocks and herds roamed at large upon the plains of their fathers. The blue sky, the shining lakes, the forests and mountains belonged to these children of the sun. To-day they are in dire poverty; the lands once tilled by their vassals they now till for others. They are the patient burden-bearers of this once grand Indian Empire. If their yoke is not easy, nor their burden light, we hear no complaint.

If we compare them with our North American Indians, we are struck with the contrast presented. At one fell blow the Aztecs were conquered, their spirit of independence crushed out. We have contended with our Indians for more than two hundred years. They have scalped and murdered the white man and burned his home, but as yet we have not been able to grapple the subject.

He retreats, we follow, and so long as he is not completely subdued, so long will he continue to pursue his own barbarous course. He feels the time coming when the white man will possess his all—when not a foot of land, and perhaps but a mere remnant of his traditions, will be left to him. While he can, he will carry his revenge in his own hand. He wants nothing—cares for nothing—if he has not his hunting-ground. He has no local habitation and no handicraft to amuse and divert him from the thought that each day provides for itself; and he must keep his arrows sharp, his flint and steel in readiness, to meet the pale faces that pursue him.

The Mexican Indian leads a peaceful life and remains on the same soil, even though it be his no longer. He is satisfied, feeling the worst is past and perhaps a better day in store for him. Shut up in his hut of adobe or palm, without either light or air, the chase and the camp have no charms for him. It troubles him little that he belongs to a conquered race. The independence of Mexico has not yet accomplished much for these people, yet they are content. Would that the great question of our own Indians might be settled, and that they could regulate their lives in as useful and peaceful a manner as their dusky-hued brethren in the land of the Montezumas!