Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/29

Rh bands and plaits: they are very fond of gay petticoats and dresses, and jewellery. A cotton reboso, or mantilla (cotton being more esteemed than silk in this country), is their favourite head-dress; stocking's are only to be seen on the feet of fashionable ladies. Gentlemen are usually dressed in the velvet jaceti, or jacket, adorned with silver buttons; a sombrero, or broad-brimmed hat, a sash, and slashed pantaloons—with a cloak, or serapé, thrown gracefully over the shoulders. The humbler ranks, however, are seldom possessed of more than a ragged shirt and breeches and a coarse blanket; or, failing these, of a long" cloak made of twisted rushes or water-flags.

The silver mines in the northern regions are numerous and productive; and princely fortunes have occasionally been derived from working them. The laws for the regulation of mines are, upon the whole, wise and equitable; encouragement being given by government to private companies. Gold, copper, and other precious metals and minerals have also been discovered in considerable quantities.

Mexico is tolerably free from wild beasts of a large and powerful kind; though numerous gangs of red wolves range the northern