Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/224

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196
PICTURES OF LIFE IN MEXICO.


and illness there. The light of a glorious sunset gilds the broken ground and the frail erection upon it, and obliges the uncouth figures to turn away their faces, and place their hands before their eyes, to shield them from the glaring light.

The eldest is a middle-aged Indian, with low and retreating features, and a head partially shaved. He is dressed in a miserable thatch-like cloak, or serapé, made of twisted water-flags; and the tattered breeches that barely reach below the knee, leave his legs and feet as much exposed as the coating of soil and clay upon them will permit. The other two are youths, apparently from fifteen to eighteen years of age, still more scantily clad than their companion; their faces wear the listless, sleepy aspect so common to the Indians; and their wild and matted hair, starting out in every direction, gives their heads, upon the whole, somewhat of the appearance of porcupines. And now, with drooping heads and anxious faces, these three figures crouch down to enter the forlorn dwelling beside them.

The rancho (or hut) is a type of whole villages. No human creatures are more