Page:The Rambler in Mexico.djvu/200

194 We were disappointed in the general appearance of the town, which may, nevertheless, be termed the Saragossa of New Spain, from the circumstances attending its pertinacious defence in the war of the revolution, when the famishing inhabitants, under the command of Morelos, withstood the concentrated forces of the Spanish general, Calleja, for the space of several months.

Though upward of twenty years had since gone by, the hatred of the inhabitants to the Gachupin and the foreigner seemed scarcely abated; and we had not long been in the town before we discovered that we, in our general character of Europeans, were to be given to feel it; and to make experience of the kind of danger which stills impends over the foreign traveller in the more unfrequented parts of the country.

A wordy squabble in a civilized country is a matter of no great moment; but here, where human life is considered of but little value, and where the cuchillo knife is instantly produced as the solver of all difficulties, the case is far otherwise.