Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/85

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 The léperos: their character and habits.—Prayers and curses.—Quaking-prairies of Attakapas.—A lépero's story.—A duel.—Murderous revenge.—The victim accused.—Pursuit of the assassin.—His fate.

all the despicable classes in Mexico, none are more calculated to excite disgust and abhorrence in the mind of a stranger, than the tribes of vagrants of both sexes called léperos. In appearance, filthy and villanous in the extreme, they are at once beggars, gamblers, and thieves: to describe a lépero as being but one of these, would be doing him an injustice, for he exhibits by turns the peculiar characteristics of each; and the suddenness with which he can glide from one character to another is surprising.

Let us glance at a few specimens of the class. That man who now trips along the pathway so hastily, began to crave charity at an early hour this morning; he has been