Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/81

Rh are gay fellows; and I have often beheld them mounted upon their elegantly-caparisoned, though somewhat small-sized horses, the bridles and large strong stirrups tipped with silver, and the animals decorated with a profusion of highly-coloured and variegated saddlecloths.

Round the head of one of these figures, is most likely tied a glowing red or blue handkerchief: surmounted by a prodigious, flapping, broad-brimmed sombrero, adorned with tufts, bands, and ribbons, of all the colours of the rainbow, with a broad red band passing completely under his chin. His round riding jacket is of a brown or purple colour, thickly braided and ornamented both before and behind, slashed and open, to display a shirt embroidered at the sleeves and on the breast. His breeches, perhaps, are of a bright blue or green velvet, open at the sides, braided, and decked with small brass bells. Leathern leggings enwrap his lower limbs, secured with tinsel garters; and below these, shoes, armed with the superabundantly heavy and massive spurs peculiar to the country. Such is the outward appearance of a gay Mexican postilion. These men are excellent riders, and