Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/53

 M EXICO. 23 sketch of the Revolution, I always include this class under the denomination of Creoles ; as sharing with the Whites of pure Spanish descent the disadvantages of that privation of political rights, to which all Natives were condemned, and feeling, in common with them, that enmity to the Gachu- pines, (or old Spaniards,) which the preference constantly ac- corded to them could not fail to excite. Next to the pure Indians, whose number, in 1803, was supposed to exceed two millions and a half, the Mestizos are the most numerous caste : it is, however, impossible to ascer- tain the exact proportion which they bear to the whole popu- lation, many of them being, as I have already stated, in- cluded amongst the pure Whites, who were estimated, be- fore the Revolution, at 1,200,000, including from 7^ to 80,000 Europeans, established in different parts of the country. Of the Mulattoes, Zambos, and other mixed breeds, no- thing certain is known. It will be seen, by this sketch, that the population of New Spain is composed of very heterogeneous elements : indeed, the numberless shades of difference which exist amongst its inhabitants, are not yet, by any means, correctly ascer- tained. The Indians, for instance, who appear, at first sight, to form one great mass, comprising nearly two-fifths of the whole population, are divided, and sub-divided, amongst themselves, in the most extraordinary manner. They consist of various tribes, resembling each other in colour, and in some general characteristics, which seem to announce a common origin, but differing entirely in language, customs, and dress. No less than twenty different languages are known to be spoken in the Mexican territory, and many of these are not dialects, which may be traced to the same root, but differ as entirely as languages of Sclavonic and Teutonic origin in Europe. Some possess letters, which do