Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/279

Rh were visibly affected. The scene closed by his committal to the prison of the Accordada; and he would have but little cause—remembering the wretched and uncertain life he had so lately led—to regret the circumstance.

I might have remained to make myself acquainted with the unpleasant incidents of another case; but being already acquainted with the existence of such perpetrations, I withdrew on its commencement. The delinquents were two vagrant Indians, male and female, charged with throwing a quantity of vitriol over the clothes and persons of two ladies, who had refused to bestow upon them their charity. The prisoners were among the most callous and ruffianly I had ever seen; the countenance of the man appeared hopelessly reckless and brutal; and the indifference of the woman was almost as great: she refused to make reply to the questions put to her, and very composedly smoked a cigarrito during the proceedings.

This atrocious practice of vitriol-throwing is so rife in Mexico, that its appalling evidences are frequently visible in the streets.

Passing through a narrow lane in the city a few days ago, I beheld a sight which horrified me while yet at a distance. Beside a stall for