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PICTURES OF LIFE IN MEXICO.
CHAPTER XXIII.
A FERIA, OR FAIR.
Their characteristics in different districts.—Number of annual fairs.—Chinampas, or floating gardens.—Mexican pedlars.—Sale by measurement.—Juggler and serpent charmer.—Dancing girls.—Perambulating-restaurateurs.—Vendors of stolen goods.—Temporary theatres.—Padres and lookers-on.—Pronunciamientos.—An insurrection.
The characteristics of fairs differ in the various parts of Mexico where they are held; but all partake of the nature of trading as well as of festive gatherings. In the capital and in its neighbourhood they are more distinguished for luxuries and the sale of articles belonging to a somewhat advanced stage of civilization than are most of the others. At Vera Cruz a feria is remembered as a season of wild excess and debauchery among the sailors and people at the port by a greater provision of odoriferous articles of clothing in
