Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/73

Rh of all imaginable shades and tints, from white to the deepest copper colour.

Social distinctions are strongly marked in this country. A few proud and luxurious priests, rich merchants, and wealthy descendants of Spaniards, chiefly constitute the upper classes; and a multitude of wretched and degraded Indians, léperos, and robbers, form the lower. In many districts, the Indians are employed by the proprietors of mines or haciendas, from whom they receive a miserable pittance in the shape of remuneration; and by whom they are almost as much enslaved as are the negroes of the United States by their owners; while in the large towns and cities, the lower ranks contrive, in their turn, to prey in every possible way upon their betters. As may be supposed, the two great classes of society have little in common with each other, except their vices; in which particular they are lamentably alike.

The practice of gaming has probably never been carried to such a height in any country as in Mexico: the best houses and hotels in their neighbourhoods are fitted up for the reception of wealthy gamblers; and the poorer sort have also their places of resort, where