Such is the Mexican _lepero_. The sketch may seem broad or even caricatured to those who are unacquainted with the country, but its accuracy will be acknowledged by all who have resided in Mexico and been haunted by the filthy tribe.
The RANCHERO comes next in our classification of the Mexicans. He is a small farmer, or _vaquero_, who owns or hires a few acres on which he cultivates his corn or grazes his cattle. He is not an Indian, a white man, an African, or a lepero, yet he mixes the qualities of all in his motly character. He is a person of lofty thoughts and aspirations;--a devoted patriot;--a staunch fighter in all the revolutions whenever _guerillas_ are required;--a hard rider and capital boon companion over a bottle or in a journey among the mountains.
On his small estate he devotes himself to the cultivation of the ground, or leaves this menial occupation to his family whilst he goes off to the wars or to carousals and _fandangos_ in the neighboring village _pulquerias_. He is an Arab in his habits, and especially in his love and management of the horse. Dressed in his leather trowsers and jerkin; with his serape over his shoulders, his broad brimed and silver corded _sombrero_ on his head; his heels armed with spurs whose three-inch rowels gleam like the blades of daggers; his sword strapped to the saddle beneath his _armas de agua_, and, grasping his gun in his hand,--the Ranchero is ready, as soon as he mounts, to follow you for months over the republic. He is the _nomade_ of the country, as the _lepero_ is of the town. His devotion to his animal is unbounded. The faithful quadruped is his best friend and surest reliance. His _lazo_ lies curved gracefully in festoons around the pommel of his saddle. Thus, with his trusty weapons and his horse, the mounted _ranchero_ is at home in the forest or in the open field; on hill side or in valley. Few riders, elsewhere, can equal him in speed or horsemanship; and few can excel him as a herdsman, a robber, an enemy, or even a _friend_ whenever you hit his fancy or are willing to understand his character and pardon his sins.
Notwithstanding the brilliant pages which Aztec history contributed to the annals of America and the civilization which prevailed, not only in the valley of Mexico, but also in other portions of the territory now within the limits of the republic, we find that the indigenous descendants of these heroic and intelligent ancestors have degenerated to such a degree that they are at present in general, fitted only for the servile toils to which they are commonly and habitually devoted. Three hundred years of oppression may have done much to produce this sad result. Without union among the tribes; without community of feeling, language or nationality; the Indians became an easy prey to the Spaniards after the conquest of the great central power. Old prophecies were accomplished, according to the Aztec belief, by the arrival of the Spaniards. "It is long since we knew from our ancestors,"--said Montezuma to Cortéz,--"that neither I nor all who inhabit these lands were _originally_ of them, but that we are strangers, and came hither from distant places. It was said that a great lord conveyed our race to these regions and returned to the land of his birth, and yet, came back once more to us. But, in the meantime, those whom he first brought had intermarried with the women of the country; and when he desired them to return again to the land of their fathers they refused to go. He went alone; and ever since have we believed, that from among those who were the descendants of that mighty lord, one shall come _to subdue this land, and make us his vassals_! According to what you declare of the place whence you come, which is _toward the rising sun_, and of the great lord who is your King, we must surely believe that he is our natural lord."