Pictures of life in Mexico/Volume 1/Chapter 4
CHAPTER IV.
GRADES OF SOCIETY.
The population of the Republic of Mexico may be estimated, in round numbers, at about seven millions of inhabitants, of different races; one million are supposed to be of pure European descent, upwards of four millions are native Indians, five thousand of the rest are Zamboes, or negroes, and the remainder, nearly two millions more, are Mestizoes, or people of mixed descent—allied, in a greater or less degree, both to the white and native races. Considerable uncertainty must always exist in forming an estimate of the last-mentioned portion of the population, as they are of all imaginable shades and tints, from white to the deepest copper colour.
Social distinctions are strongly marked in this country. A few proud and luxurious priests, rich merchants, and wealthy descendants of Spaniards, chiefly constitute the upper classes; and a multitude of wretched and degraded Indians, léperos, and robbers, form the lower. In many districts, the Indians are employed by the proprietors of mines or haciendas, from whom they receive a miserable pittance in the shape of remuneration; and by whom they are almost as much enslaved as are the negroes of the United States by their owners; while in the large towns and cities, the lower ranks contrive, in their turn, to prey in every possible way upon their betters. As may be supposed, the two great classes of society have little in common with each other, except their vices; in which particular they are lamentably alike.
The practice of gaming has probably never been carried to such a height in any country as in Mexico: the best houses and hotels in their neighbourhoods are fitted up for the reception of wealthy gamblers; and the poorer sort have also their places of resort, where play is pursued with equal avidity—varied by the indulgence of vices and debaucheries of a more disgusting and degrading character.
The most favourable specimens of the Mexican people are sensitive, proud, impulsive, talented, courteous, brave, sincere, and hospitable; but neither industrious, studious, enterprising, far-seeing, nor persevering. The inferior classes are cunning, audacious, indolent, quarrelsome, deceitful, sensual, and grossly ignorant. The Mexicans are an eminently jealous nation: they seem to think that other powers are in league against them, and are jealous of the Spaniards, of the Americans, of Europeans in general, and of each other. They are violently opposed to all manner of improvements and innovations; with the solitary exception of political changes, for which they have a passion. Their hospitality, especially at their country haciendas, is remarkable: their established phrase, that their houses are at your service,—"Mi casa, señor, estā muy à su disposicion,"— must not be regarded as a compliment only; it really means a hearty welcome, which the visitor is sure to receive.
The two great powers of the nation are the army and the priesthood. They may be distinguished as the upper and lower currents—the apparently prevailing, and the secretly influential elements—of public opinion.
The manner of recruiting the army resembles the mode in which the English navy was manned in time of war, by means of pressgangs. A well-armed party is sent forth into remote and wilderness places, for the purpose of securing and bringing home any men they may be able to catch. These unfortunates—for the most part ragged Indians—are without more ado chained together, and when a sufficient number has been captured are driven like beasts to the barracks of the capital, there to be dressed in linen-cloth uniforms, and drilled by marching them through the streets. In seasons of difficulty and urgency, also, a selection is made from those well-stored reservoirs of desperate humanity—the public prisons. The recruits are usually armed with rifles, far more dangerous to themselves than to anybody else; and sometimes placed under the command of an officer of congenial spirit—a liberated felon like themselves.
The numbers of the army are constantly over-estimated; this, indeed, is a kind of national fiction, upon which all parties are content to wink. The pay of both officers and troops is extremely uncertain; but the men are the greatest sufferers in this particular; certain practices being resorted to by their superiors that are not at all available with them. Among other ingenious devices, it is by no means uncommon for officers to insert the names of a number of fictitious soldiers in their muster-rolls, for the purpose of eking-out their own precarious pay by the aid of false accounts; their remuneration being regulated by the number of their troops.
Until within the last few years, education was wofully neglected in Mexico: it was estimated that not more than one in every fourteen of the inhabitants was able to read. But at the present time, besides the government normal school for the elementary education of soldiers in the army, there are establishments for the tuition of both boys and girls, in many of the parishes throughout the country. These schools are inspected and supported under the direction of the Ayuntamientos, or town-councils: the children are furnished with books, without charge, and they are instructed in the most essential requirements of education; including' a kind of political and religious catechism—the girls being initiated into the mysteries of plain needle-work in addition. Subscription Lancasterian associations have also been formed in various parts of the republic, which have met with considerable patronage from private individuals: in these institutions, the children are instructed gratis. There are also evening schools for adults.
There are four collegiate establishments in the capital; and a few in different provincial departments besides. It is a lamentable fact that such praiseworthy efforts as these have been, as yet, unproductive of good fruit; but many of these institutions being based on right foundations, there is promise in them. We would charitably hope that the illiterate and apathetic priesthood throughout the country, are not in their hearts opposed to the progress of national education; but their actions do not afford ground upon which to rest so liberal a construction of their conduct.
The Roman Catholic clergy in Mexico have been, for ages, in the habit of carrying it with a wondrously high hand; and, although their voices may not be quite so emphatic as formerly, they yet act without the least control. The consequence, as may be supposed, is, that their zest for physical enjoyment and ecclesiastical domination is indulged without restraint: they pamper alike their pride and power, their love of ease and luxury. It is a rare thing—so rare, indeed, as to have given rise to a proverb—to hear of a priest, a bishop, or even an archbishop, throughout the country, who is either moral in his conduct, upright in his dealing's, amiable in disposition, or pious in spirit.
In many parts of Mexico the women are celebrated for their beauty; but this quality is unusually transient here, as girls become wives and mothers at an exceedingly early age. The female character is energetic as well as excitable; it frequently happens, in remote districts, that the women are acquainted with the use of arms, and are quite prepared to defend their households in cases of emergency, during the absence of their husbands.
The life of a fashionable Mexican lady appears to be pretty equally divided between attendance at mass in the morning, for which she dresses with the utmost elegance and elaboration; gossiping and driving out at mid-day, through the Alamedas, or great public walks; and exhibiting, with the utmost splendour and coquetry, at the theatre or opera, in the evening.
In some portions of the country, the women do not take their meals in the same apartment as the rest of the household; except on particular occasions, as a mark of especial favour. It is the practice, when at table, to abstain from any kind of beverage until the conclusion of the meal; and if any guest partake of the contents of the cup that is placed beside him, it is regarded by his entertainer as a token of his having finished his repast.
The objects which seem to engage the time and attention of a Mexican fine gentleman in a particular degree are, first and foremost, the gaming-table; training, exchanging and ministering to the comfort of horses; and attending upon the ladies at the theatre; these occupations being occasionally varied by a visit to the cock-pit, the passeo, or the bull-ring.
The bands of smugglers on the Mexican coasts are both numerous and intrepid; and there is every inducement and facility for defrauding the revenue. The government collectors and inspectors are few and wholly inefficient, their number being utterly inadequate to survey a tithe of the scenes of operations; they are, moreover, so dishonest in principle, and so negligent in the discharge of their duty, that it is very doubtful if any benefit would accrue to the State from their exertions, were the members of the corps to be multiplied tenfold. A few partial and feeble attempts have been made to check the progress of the illicit proceedings of contrabandists; but their suppression, or even a check to their continuance, appears to become still more improbable from year to year.
The aguadores, or water-carriers, are among the most conspicuous objects in the streets. They may be constantly seen in their round jacetis, or short blankets, and torn pantaloons, driving laden asses or mules, or carrying jars of spring water, either in their hands, or on their heads, from house to house; cheerfully carolling the while, or expatiating upon the freshness and coolness of their saleable beverage.
It is usual for the postilions belonging to the best houses to be continually on the alert, and in attendance with the carriages and horses ready prepared in the court-yards at a moment's notice. Some of these postilions are gay fellows; and I have often beheld them mounted upon their elegantly-caparisoned, though somewhat small-sized horses, the bridles and large strong stirrups tipped with silver, and the animals decorated with a profusion of highly-coloured and variegated saddlecloths.
Round the head of one of these figures, is most likely tied a glowing red or blue handkerchief: surmounted by a prodigious, flapping, broad-brimmed sombrero, adorned with tufts, bands, and ribbons, of all the colours of the rainbow, with a broad red band passing completely under his chin. His round riding jacket is of a brown or purple colour, thickly braided and ornamented both before and behind, slashed and open, to display a shirt embroidered at the sleeves and on the breast. His breeches, perhaps, are of a bright blue or green velvet, open at the sides, braided, and decked with small brass bells. Leathern leggings enwrap his lower limbs, secured with tinsel garters; and below these, shoes, armed with the superabundantly heavy and massive spurs peculiar to the country. Such is the outward appearance of a gay Mexican postilion. These men are excellent riders, and are very vain; yet, upon the whole, they may be considered favourable specimens of the lower ranks of the community.
The Mexicans, especially the wild-cattle hunters, are almost unrivalled for their dexterity in the management of the lasso. It is exceedingly imprudent and dangerous, to be at large in almost any city of the republic after dusk, on account of the depredations of lassoing ladrones; and it would be still more so, if the dissolute habits of these wretches did not occasionally tend to make their aim less formidable and certain.
The market people with their panniered mules or asses, laden with turkeys, eggs, and wild fowl, fruits and flowers, vegetables and tortilla cakes, or carrying piles of dry goods, glass and earthenware, will be more particularly noticed hereafter; as also the storekeepers—whose habits of imperturbable coolness, unfailing loquacity, easy indolence, and modest assurance, are so constantly amusing to uninitiated foreigners.
Nightly watchmen, or serenos, as they are called, are occasionally to be heard in the most public thoroughfares, and near the principal archway in the several cities; but the only service these gentry appear to perform, is to preface their call of the hour with a vociferous "Ave Maria Purissima." The traveller newly arrived in the country finds their hourly shouting an additional cause of sleeplessness, beside those which are so urgently presented by the mosquitoes and other vermin who may favour him with their assiduous attentions.
The léperos, with their cunning and mendicity, the plundering-ladrones, the poor and uncultivated Indians, the faithful arrieros, or carriers, the speculative and industrious miners,—as also the lawyers and administradores so often employed by them; will be more fully described in succeeding pages.
A residence in Mexico is likely to impress even the most obtuse with a sense of its insecurity: both life and property, here, are but little respected by the masses of the community. The upper classes of society cannot disguise the fact of the apprehensions to be entertained of the degraded multitude; and the lower ranks—hopeless in prospect, and destitute alike of adequate employment and any inclination for it—have scarcely any inducements to the practice of honesty. The most obtrusive and clamorous solicitations for alms encounter the resident at every step; and the objects of charity only wait for opportunity to deprive him of his property by violence. It is frequently unsafe to travel even in the suburbs of the cities; and always in the mountains without an escort: nor has the wayfarer any security against his guardians proving his plunderers at any moment. It is requisite on a journey, not only to be burdened heavily with defensive arms, but to make them as conspicuous as possible, for the purpose of intimidation; and there are as many precautions taken on admitting a friend or relative to the court-yard of a suburban mansion after dark—inspections by porters, withdrawing of chains, removing iron bars, and unfastening bolts, included—as if it were the entrance to some important outpost, in time of war.