ted by
the audience to find that he had come to life again. I confess that I
felt sorry to see the cruelty to the bull and the horse. I did not stay
for the conclusion of the performance; but while I did stay, there was
not a bull killed in the prescribed way.

Bull fights are now prohibited in the Federal District--embracing a
territory around the City of Mexico, somewhat larger than the District
of Columbia--and they are not an institution in any part of the country.
During one of my recent visits to Mexico, bull fights were got up in my
honor at Puebla and at Pachuca. I was not notified in advance so as to
be able to decline and thus prevent the performance; but in both cases I
civilly declined to attend.

Another amusement of the people of Mexico of that day, and one which
nearly all indulged in, male and female, old and young, priest and
layman, was Monte playing. Regular feast weeks were held every year at
what was then known as St. Augustin Tlalpam, eleven miles out of town.
There were dealers to suit every class and condition of people. In many
of the booths tlackos--the copper coin of the country, four of them
making six and a quarter cents of our money--were piled up in great
quantities, with some silver, to accommodate the people who could not
bet more than a few pennies at a time. In other booths silver formed
the bulk of the capital of the bank, with a few doubloons to be changed
if there should be a run of luck against the bank. In some there was no
coin except gold. Here the rich were said to bet away their entire
estates in a single day. All this is stopped now.

For myself, I was kept somewhat busy during the winter of 1847-8. My
regiment was stationed in Tacubaya. I was regimental quartermaster and
commissary. General Scott had been unable to get clothing for the
troops from the North. The men were becoming--well, they needed
clothing. Material had to be purchased, such as could be obtained, and
people employed to make it up into "Yankee uniforms." A quartermaster
in the city was designated to attend to this special duty; but clothing
was so much needed that it was seized as fast as made up. A regiment
was glad to get a dozen suits at a time. I had to look after this
matter for the 4th infantry. Then our regimental fund had run down and
some of the musicians in the band had been without their extra pay for a
number of months.

The regimental bands at that day were kept up partly b