not unusual to meet with a Mexican who believes himself to have superadded a portion of their intelligence and shrewdness to his own dignity, or who professes a fondness for American uniforms and tobacco. They will tell you, also, if you hesitate with respect to the fairness of a bargain they are forcing on you, that it is the American mode. Some stray article to which you have taken a fancy, they will describe—by way of excuse for raising the price outrageously—as possessing the American finish. I once purchased a travelling valise, which I had seen in progress at a saddler's the week before, as coming direct from the United States.
A few years ago it would have been an unpardonable enormity to appear in the public streets in a long-tailed coat—as it would now be in the more remote districts of the republic, so vain are the Mexicans of their native costume—yet of late it is no uncommon occurrence to behold several coats of this sort in a street at once; stiff collar, meaningless flaps, and hindmost buttons, all included.
Many young ladies, also, of the better class, seem to delight in lisping forth a few broken American words, on particular occasions;
