Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/83

Rh only service these gentry appear to perform, is to preface their call of the hour with a vociferous "Ave Maria Purissima." The traveller newly arrived in the country finds their hourly shouting an additional cause of sleeplessness, beside those which are so urgently presented by the mosquitoes and other vermin who may favour him with their assiduous attentions.

The léperos, with their cunning and mendicity, the plundering-ladrones, the poor and uncultivated Indians, the faithful arrieros, or carriers, the speculative and industrious miners,—as also the lawyers and administradores so often employed by them; will be more fully described in succeeding pages.

A residence in Mexico is likely to impress even the most obtuse with a sense of its insecurity: both life and property, here, are but little respected by the masses of the community. The upper classes of society cannot disguise the fact of the apprehensions to be entertained of the degraded multitude; and the lower ranks—hopeless in prospect, and destitute alike of adequate employment and any inclination for it—have scarcely any inducements to the practice of honesty.