those tongues; and to surmount the difficulty the priest has a list of written questions and answers, which he learns to pronounce like a parrot. When the Indian presents himself, the priest reads question No. I. If the Indian replies in accordance with the written answer, well and good; but if not, the priest reads again, until, by good luck, the right word is uttered, and the hitch overcome. The priest who explained this ingenious mode of confessing was somewhat perplexed when I remarked: 'But suppose the Indian confesses to some sin not down on the list; what then?' The Indian is always treated as an inferior creature. The priest requires his Mexican parishioners to confess and receive the sacrament very frequently; but the Indian is not expected to confess oftener than once a year, and, as a rule, he receives the communion only at marriage and when about to die. Once in a lifetime is considered enough for him. The march of Liberalism has done much to alter this state of affairs; but not many years ago the Indian might confess, but could not commune without a special license. So great is the chasm which separates the Mexican from the Indian, that the title of 'gente de razon,' or people of reason, is given to the former. Nothing is more common than the expression, 'Is he an Indian?' 'No, he is "de razon;"' thus making the Mexican to be a reasonable being, in contradistinction to the poor despised Indian, who ranks only with beasts of burden. The Mexican Indian is essentially religious; his whole life seems devoted to the service of the priests and saints; his earnings are all devoted to wax-candles and rockets to be burned on feast-days, and he seems to think of nothing but processions and pilgrimages to some distant shrine. Since the days of his Aztecan forefathers, the only change which the Indian has undergone in religion is that of adoring a San Antonio instead of his ancient god, 'Huitzilopochtle;' and, with this slight change in the objects of his worship, he continues to adore on the same sacred spots, and with many of the ceremonies, and with all the ignorance and superstitious zeal as did his pagan forefathers.
"The Roman Catholic priests, in days gone by, in order to divert the Indians from their Aztec idolatries, adopted the ingenious plan of going by night to some heathen temple, removing the old idol, and placing in its stead a crucifix or some Catholic saint. The next day the Indians were amazed to find a new god instead of the old one, and at once accepted the change; they continued their worship as before. Cannibalism and human sacrifices have died out; but, if we view the Indian's present religion from his own stand-point, we shall see that really he finds not one single point of difference. In his old Aztec religion he had a water baptism, confession to priests, numerous gods to adore, and whose aid he invoked under various circumstances. He worshiped images of wood or stone; employed flowers and fruits as offerings, and incense also, and offered fellow-beings in sacrifice, while he also worshiped a goddess whom he styled 'Our Mother;' and in his worship dances and pantomimes took a prominent
