nd originality of
costume, physiognomy, and colour--a contact and contrast of the most
costly and sumptuous habiliments with the meanest and most disgusting
rags, such as it would be in vain to seek in any other country than
Mexico.

Amongst the most elegantly dressed of those whom the enigmatical
masquerade attracted, was a young man, of whom it would have bee
difficult to say to what race he belonged. His face was covered by a
closely-fitting silken mask, in which every hue of the rainbow was
blended, but which, nevertheless, was adapted so admirably to his
features, as at first to leave the spectators in doubt whether it were
not the real colour of his skin. He skipped airily out of the fonda of
Trespana into the street, cast a keen but hasty glance around him, and
then began to make his way through the mob that surrounded the pageant.
There was a nameless something in his manner and appearance that caused
the throng to open him a willing passage towards the object of general
curiosity.

"Foolish mob! brainless mob! swinish mob!" cried the stranger, when he
at length stood beside the cart upon which the monster was still rending
its hapless victim; "whither are ye running, and pressing, and crowding,
and what are ye come to see? Know ye not that in Mexico it is forbidden
to see, especially to see clearly?"

The tone of the speaker, his sudden appearance, and the bold originality
of his manner, contrasted strongly with the timidity of the other
Creoles, who had all in their turn approached the cart cautiously,
viewed it for a few moments with an air of mistrust, and then withdrawn
themselves to a distance, in order to await in safety what might next
ensue. The daring address of the new-comer, so different from this
prudent behaviour, did not fail to attract universal attention.

"What now, men of Mexico, or of Anahuac, if you prefer that name, Aztecs
and Tenochtitlans and Othomites, and Metises and Zambos and Salta-atras,
and whites, whom the devil fly away with," added he in a lower tone, "or
at least with one-twentieth of them?"[10]

"Bravo!" vociferated hundreds of Metises and Zambos, whom the last few
words had suddenly enlightened as to the political opinions of the
speaker. "Bravo! _Escuchad!_ Hear him!"

The object of this applause was apparently busied examining the
composition of the pageant. When silence was restored, he again turned
to the crowd.

"And so you would like to know what it means?" said