Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/413

Rh to him; but, on the other hand, he has a heart and much of the sentimental and romantic instinct which invests him with many of the attractions of the bandit.

The most beautiful and distinctive female type of the common people is the China (Chena), familiarly known as the China poblana. With many added attractions she may be considered the counterpart of the French grisette. But the China has a rich and luxurious tropical order of beauty that is especially her own, with hands, arms, and feet that could not be excelled for artistic elegance by Praxiteles. She has the warmth of nature and faithful devotion which characterize



all Mexican women. Her peculiar costume, now rarely seen, possesses a semi-barbaric charm that interdicts all rivalry; but it will soon be a memory of the past, having given place in great measure to a more modern style.

The common people have, generally, a great dread of having their pictures taken. A sort of superstition haunts them that the process will deprive them of some part of their being, either corporal or spiritual. This dread was realized when the artist took her revenge on a curious crowd who had gathered so closely around us as to almost impede the manipulations of her pencil. I was constantly on the qui vive for some of my former mozos who had left me some years before to go to their families. I was certain on one occasion that I had found one of them, but he had risen from the rank of mozo to a cargador, with all the dignity and equipments of that station. When he entered the house where I was, on an errand, the resemblance to Miguel Rodriguez