Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/768

748 were ordered to be at home, out of the street, by eight o'clock in winter and nine in summer, and attendance at church was compulsory under penalty of the lash and the prison.

The secularization of missions served not to promote their welfare, for it gave a rather nominal freedom under a negligent curate, in lieu of the guardian care of a comparatively disinterested and unselfish friar who took a paternal delight in watching over his Hock. Mining labor still fell chiefly to their share, even after they became free to dispose of themselves; and allured by gain they freely submitted to the destructive methods in vogue. The lack of beasts of burden, which they were as a rule too poor to purchase, forced them to toil as such. The prohibition against riding also restricted the acquisition of horses. They were moreover forbidden to carry arms or to dress like Spaniards. These degrading and repressive measures were added to official tyranny to keep them poor, ignorant, and humble; a policy dictated partly by fear of their number, partly by caste jealousy; and so they remained the feet of the social body.

Centuries of serfdom and humiliation had not failed to leave its stamp on the Indian's character, already moulded under the despotic rule of native emperors. Accustomed to servitude, he yields with hypocritical servility and deceitful timidity, and is naturally suspicious, yet without harboring any deep malice or cruel vindictiveness. The bloody features of his ancestral religion are by no means an index to a cruel disposition. It indicates rather a stolid indifference to suffering and occurrences; and although the outward apathy is somewhat exaggerated, it veils no very sensitive feelings. This is shown by his