Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/268

240 their aspects as they lay their heads together and consult in an under-tone; and so awful is their delivery when "we" after mature deliberation have come to a decision! The judicial authorities of Mexico are no exception to this general remark; indeed they seem more imperious than ordinary, in proportion to the wretchedness and ignorance with which they have continually to deal.

The following are a few scenes and circumstances which came to my knowledge, on visiting a court of administradores (justices), in the Accordada of the City of Mexico.

The centre of the range of mountains west of the capital, is traversed by a highway shut in on one side by craggy cliffs, having on the other a steep declivity composed of jagged and knotted rocks. This road is very solitary and perilous, particularly where for about a hundred yards it passes over a ledge of rock only about four feet wide, overhanging a precipice, from which even sure-footed mules, too heavily laden, have missed footing and slipped to be dashed to pieces on the rocks below. There is nothing to disturb the impression which the wild and desolate character of the scene makes on the mind of a traveller, but a