Cages of birds are hung around the patio, or under the corridors, and the little captives delight with their brilliant colors or their sweet songs. Every one in Mexico keeps birds as pets, and you may see, even in the houses of the very poor, mocking-birds, doves, parrots, or clarins with their clear, whistling note.
Wherever there are real _roads_ in Mexico, there you may see the quaint old-fashioned ox-carts with wheels often made from solid blocks of wood cut to shape. Two oxen are generally yoked to each, but when heavy loads are to be dragged, four, six, or even more are used at once.
[Illustration: A MEXICAN OX-CART (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]
[Illustration: MEXICAN WATER-CARRIER (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]
In Central Mexico water is precious, and in the cities special men make it a business to sell water from house to house. The water-carriers of different towns greatly differ in the form and size of the jars they use and in the mode of carrying them. In the city of Mexico, where they are becoming an uncommon sight, the man carries two water-jars of metal, one in front, one behind, hanging by straps from his shoulders and cap; in Guadalajara a number of round pottery water-jars are set into a sort of a frame mounted on a cart or barrow; in San Luis Potosi there are four oval jars set into a wheelbarrow with an enormous wheel; in Guanajuato they use great slender jars nearly as tall as the man himself, with a ring of wood at the bottom to hold them when they are set on the ground.
In the centre of every Mexican city or town of any importance is the _plaza_ or public square. Sometimes this is surrounded by handsome buildings and laid out with care as a garden. Among orange trees laden with sweet blossoms and golden fruit, rose bushes, banana trees, there wind pleasant walks with benches in the shade, where rich or poor may rest. Usually at the centre of the plaza there is a band-stand where on certain evenings every week fine concerts are given.
The plaza is the pleasure-spot and gathering-place of all. To it flock venders of all kinds, with cakes, candies, fruits, sugar-cane, peanuts, toys, etc. Some of the wares are strange, and I am sure you could not guess them. There goes a man with a lot of pretty colored balls like wee toy balloons; they are red, white, blue, yellow; they are chewing-gum! There is another man with a great crumpled sheet of some whitish brown stuff; children flock to him with their coppers, and he cuts off pieces which they walk away munching; it is fried pigskin!