Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/243

Rh it depends entirely upon the degree of expence to which a person chooses to go in the embroidery. A very handsome saddle may be bought for three hundred dollars. I have known two hundred dollars given for a pair of Guadalajara boots, (worked with silver,) but eighty may be taken as a very liberal price. A jacket, not at all particularly fine, would cost as much more. The hat is worth twenty dollars; the breeches, if at all rich, fifty or sixty; the spurs, with embroidered stirrup-leathers, twenty; the plated bridle thirty-two; while a manga of the most ordinary kind is not to be procured under one hundred dollars, and, if at all remarkable, could not be purchased for less than three. The horse usually mounted on these occasions must be a Brazeador, fat, sleek, and slow, but with remarkably high action before; which, it is thought, tends to show off both the animal and the rider to the greatest advantage. The tout ensemble is exceedingly picturesque; and the public walks of Mexico will lose much in point of effect, when the riding-dress of England, or France, is substituted, as it probably will be, for a national costume of so very peculiar a character.

The Ălămēdă, which is situated nearly at one extremity of the town, communicates with the Paseo Nuevo, a broad avenue of trees, from the extremity of which the road to Chăpūltĕpēc, and Tăcŭbāya,