Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/263

Rh —but what he did deliver was uttered with a most disgusting admixture of assumption and imbecility.

A little, fiery, dark creature near him, however—who perpetually twitched his limbs and person about, like the figure of a monkey hung on wires—supplied a fund of eloquence amply sufficient for them both. He would insist on putting in his opinion with the foremost; it was of a very hot and spicy character usually, and he enunciated it as if it burned his tongue in utterance. He seemed, indeed, to hurl his speeches in the faces of the rest. He would be heard, happen what might; and he brought every limb and muscle of his body to the assistance of his words—seeming to speak even out of his elbows. His whole figure and appearance were of an irritable and angular cast; his face parched, bilious, and attenuated; his features like a hawk's; and his eye to the full as restless as his limbs.

Lounging against the wall at no great distance, was an individual perhaps the least inviting in appearance of any in the assembly. His mouth and chin were very large, and projected like those of a beast; his face was strongly marked and broad, especially at the