ro. "The indigenous Mexican is grave, melancholic,
silent, so long as he is not under the influence of intoxicating
liquors. This gravity is peculiarly remarkable in Indian children, who
at the age of four or five years display more intelligence and
precocity than the children of whites. The Mexican loves to attach
mystery even to his most trifling actions; the strongest passions do
not display themselves in his countenance; the transition is frightful
when it passes suddenly from a state of absolute repose to that of
violent and unrestrained agitation." Slavery with them has engendered
guile. They are obstinate in all their habits and opinions; their
religion is one of mere ceremonial, justifying the observation of
a priest to Mr. Ward, "son mui buenos Catolicos, pero mui malos
Cristianos" (very good Catholics, but very bad Christians.) Deception
in this, as well as in every thing else, is the order of the day; and
the Indian Alcalde now oppresses the villagers as much as he himself
has ever been.

Humboldt considers the Mexican Indian as destitute of all imagination,
though when to a certain degree educated, he attributes to him
facility in learning, a clearness of understanding, a natural turn for
reasoning, and a particular aptitude to subtilize and seize trifling
distinctions.

The music and dancing are as dull as might be expected among beings so
full of phlegm. The Mexican has a turn for painting and sculpture; and
retains the same fondness for flowers that struck Cortez so forcibly
upwards of three centuries ago. The "Indios Bravos," or Wild Indians,
are said to display more energy; but our information respecting them
is remarkably scanty.

Among the active vices of the Mexican Indian, that of drunkenness
prevails to a most lamentable extent. In the upper districts,
_pulque_, or the fermented juice of the aloe, is the principal
tempter; sometimes a spirit, distilled from the same plant, called
_Vino de Mescal_; while, in the hotter districts, the same effects are
ensured by the _chinguirito_, a very coarse kind of rum. Combined with
this disposition to intoxication, the Indian is constitutionally
indolent; and, now that he is a free man, he will rarely work, except
to obtain just as much as will afford him the means of enjoying his
greatest luxury--that of steeping his senses in oblivion. This last
tendency is much to be deplored, as, in the larger towns, we know that
every Sunday (which is the day of greate