Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/197

Rh was taller than the general run of such creatures; and walked erect upon two legs: in short; he was a black man,—a Mexican Zambo! This poor, despised mortal was most happy to accompany a shooting party—as was his habit—in the capacity of cur, for a small fee and a portion of the sporting proceeds. His ingenuity in putting up the game at the right moment, in making expressive but silent signals, and in collecting the birds lately shot, was extraordinary. I confess it was sorely against my feelings to behold a fellow creature take such offices upon him; but I had no power to interfere in the affair, and if I had, he would have regarded it, most likely, as an oppression and an injury.

The Zambo's patron was a withered, high dried, half-Spaniard, named Stiazza, with prodigiously long hair and moustachios, a bilious face, slender, tough, and supple limbs, and a blind eye—lost by an accident while hunting. He was almost wholly encased in leather; his broad hat, short round jaceti, pantaloons and their accessories, were all leather; and it needed no very high stretch of imagination to fancy that his skin was leather too. How he contrived to endure the weight