lessness, confident in the fear entertained of cruel retaliation on those who betrayed or entrapped the member of a band. When the baggage promised good returns, an attack was made, but seldom with bloodshed, for the escort generally managed to be behind, and Mexican passengers on such occasions seldom went armed, in order to afford no provocation for maltreatment. Foreigners as a rule showed more determination, and were consequently less frequently molested.[1] In the northern provinces invested by roaming Indians, travellers combined in caravans, and formed enclosed camps for the night.[2]
Another trouble connected with travelling is the lack of good inns. Along a few of the main routes accommodation has been improved, but elsewhere it is circumscribed by the very moderate ideas of comfort and cleanliness entertained by the class to whom innkeepers belong.[3]
The solution of many evils, such as travelling facilities, hotel accommodation, and a host of greater ones, is looked for by liberal-minded Mexicans in immigration. Hitherto little encouragement has been afforded for settling, and foreigners as a rule are attracted only by the prospect of speedy gain in trade, mining, and other industries, with the ultimate intention of returning home after a few years' stay. Hence, notwithstanding its wealth and beauty, its proclaimed liberality of government, and bids for colonization, its
- ↑ For causes and prevalence of robbery, I refer to the chapter on government. Among the measures suggested to insure greater safety was an armored carriage. Adorno, Anal. Males, 141-4.
- ↑ See Hist. North Mex., i., ii., this series; also Tarayre, Explor., 71-3.
- ↑ In the smaller towns the traveller must still, as in former times, depend on the threefold institution of meson, fonda, and tienda, equivalent to lodginghouse, restaurant, and general store, the former providing rarely anything better than a windowless and untidy cell, with a few rough planks raised to form a bedstead, a bench, and occasionally a table. His horse is attended to; but his own food must be sought beyond the meson, and the choice is usually restricted to frijoles and tortillas — the latter a leathery substitute for bread — to eggs, chicken, rice, and chocolate; milk is rare, and cheese and butter almost unknown. In the villages lodging may be obtained in houses possessing shops. In the cities the mesones are somewhat more comfortable, although far from approaching even our humbler hotels.
