is, the Mexican trade would
swell into an enormous sum. Every acquisition of a new territory in
the far west and southwest aids in developing the commerce of Santa
Fe; therefore, until steam shall cause a revolution in the course of
trade, this town must necessarily increase greatly in importance.
The stores in the town are mostly owned, and the mercantile business
chiefly carried on, by Americans. These American speculators are
celebrated for the daring manner with which they launch out their
money upon various enterprises. With them, the greater the risk when
their chances appear that the gain will be large, the more eager they
are in facing the hazard. They sometimes lose, but oftentimes realize
large fortunes. The appearance of these stores is captivating to the
fancy, and many of them would be ornaments to any of the larger cities
or towns of the east. The most expensive articles of luxury and dress
are to be found in them, and in these distant parts, such property
commands a price which would startle and quite shake the nerves of
a prince; but, when the people can obtain the money, they purchase
everything which their fancy dictates. A Santa Fe senorita dashes in
her rich silks which have cost hundreds of dollars with as much grace
as does one of the Washington or Fifth Avenue belles, clothed in the
same luxuriant style. In Santa Fe, we are sorry to say, it requires
vice of the worst shade for women to support such a style of living;
but the morals of the Mexicans are so loose in all classes, that
virtue is boldly parted with by both sexes in a spirit which the
triumphs of natural reason alone ought to prevent, and which no lover
of humanity can admire or tolerate. Gambling, in this town, has
long held its full sway, and many is the victim which this wretched
wickedness has prematurely hurried into a vortex, from which there has
been no recovery.

The palmy days of gambling, in San Francisco, have been rivaled in
the little town of Santa Fe, and the boldness with which the Mexican
player will part with his last dollar, shows the hardened state
to which the man, and, what is perhaps worse, the woman, have been
brought, by years of habitual playing for money. In olden times, the
Mexicans used to travel hundreds of miles, and bring their money with
them in order to squander it at their favorite game of _monte_. Not
only this fact is true, but men will often sell themselves into the
slavery of debt in order to satisf