Page:A Study of Mexico.djvu/108

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98
A STUDY OF MEXICO.

Should one be fortunate enough to have anything else to eat, these tortillas serve as plates, after which service the plates are eaten."

With all this, the agricultural laborers of Mexico, both Indians and mixed bloods, are almost universally spoken of as an industrious, easily managed, and contented people. By reason of the general mildness of the climate, the necessary requirements for living are fewer than among people inhabiting the temperate and more northern latitudes, and consequently poverty with them does not imply extreme suffering from either cold or starvation. When their simple wants are satisfied, money with them has little value, and quickly finds its way into the pockets of the almost omnipresent pulque or "lottery-ticket" sellers, or the priest. "If they are too ready to take a hand against the Government at the call of some discontented leader, it is not because they are Indian or Mexican, but because they are poor and ignorant."

Considering the great achievements of Juarez, and the precedent which his success in administration established, it is curious to note how rarely one sees faces of the Indian type in any important or public positions. The rank and file of the army seem to be unmistakably Indian, or of evident Indian descent, while the officers, almost without an exception, are white. The bands have white