Page:Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans.djvu/290

282 breasts bared and browned; combine all these in your imagination, and you have a recipe for a Mexican lepero."

In fine, the lepero is the most worthless kind of proletarian, a beggar whom no one can escape from, and whom no one can intimidate, Cortes mentions the swarms of beggars that existed in the Aztec capital in his time; they are also spoken of by Humboldt; they were the terror and disgust of every viceroy, except Revillagigedo, who, in the latter part of the last century, successfully dealt with them. In the revolutionary period they committed unheard of atrocities, and upon the entry of the American troops into Mexico it was the leperos who, let loose from the jails, murdered and pillaged friend and foe alike. To-day we find them on every street and corner, curled up in the portals of the churches, sleeping at noon in the shade of every sanctuary. It is on feast days that the lepero particularly shines, as witness this portraiture by the clever Sartorius:—

"The lepero has actually spent a medio (six cents) in order to convert the crusts of dirt, which had stood in bold relief on his face, neck, and hands, into the natural brown. . . . . Many of them are duly married, but the majority of them certainly not. They feel, however, the necessity of sharing their lot with a