Page:Life in Mexico vol 1.djvu/193

Rh covering the canal, the Indians singing and dancing lazily as the boats steal along, and the whole under the blue and cloudless sky, and in that pure, clear atmosphere; and could you only shut your eyes to the one disagreeable feature in the picture, the number of léperos busy in the exercise of their vocation, you would believe that Mexico must be the most flourishing, most enjoyable, and most peaceful place in the world, and moreover the wealthiest; not a republic certainly, for there is no well-dressed people; hardly a connecting link between the blankets and the satins, the poppies and the diamonds. As for the carriages, many would not disgrace HydePark, though there are that would send a shiver all along Bond street; but the very contrast is amusing, and upon the whole, both as to horses and equipages, there is much more to admire than to criticise. . ..

There, for example, is the handsome carriage of the rich, who has one of the finest houses in Mexico; his wife wears a velvet turban twisted with large pearls, and has at this moment a cigar in her mouth. She is not pretty, but her jewels are superb. How he made his fortune, partly by gambling, and partly by even less honorable means, let some abler chronicler relate. Or look at this elegant carratela, with its glass sides all opened, giving to view a constellation of fair ones, and drawn by handsome gray frisones. These ladies are remarkable as having a more European air than most others, brighter colors, longer and simpler dresses, and Paris bonnets. Perhaps they have been in Europe. It