FOOTNOTES:
[53] Local synonym for a horse.
[54] Listen, Sir Stranger.
[55] Abbreviated form of Doña, used in this part of Mexico.
[56] Calros, Charles.
[57] A head-dress greatly in vogue among Mexican females.
CHAPTER III.
The Fête of Manantial.—The Combat.
The name of Jarochos is given to those peasants who live on the sea-board round Vera Cruz. Their costume bears no resemblance whatever to that of the people around them. The inhabitants of Andalusia wear a dress very similar to theirs, and it is the general opinion, from their manners and character, that they are the descendants of the Gitanos of that Spanish province. Their dialect is, like their attire, strange and singular. It abounds in words of the purest Castilian, interspersed with local terms disfigured by a vicious pronunciation, and can not be understood, even by those who know Spanish, without diligent and careful study. They are impatient of restraint, and, consequently, ill fitted for acting as soldiers or sailors, although well versed in the use of arms, and not unacquainted with the dangers of the sea. It is their love of independence which causes them to prefer the wandering life of the herdsman and the horse-dealer, and the machete plays no unimportant part in all their difficulties. The Jarocho would rather want the most indispensable part of his dress than be deprived of the long, sharp, glittering blade which he wears in his belt. This sabre is more generally in the hand of the Jarocho than at his side. A small point of honor, or the most futile remark, has often been the means of bringing on the most bloody and long-continued series of combats. They are possessed, however, of some rare qualities, which atone for their defects. The Jarocho is temperate, frank, loyal, and hospitable to the whites (by this term he means the higher classes); he looks upon theft with horror; he loves the place of his birth. A stranger to every desire for wealth, he lives contented with a little in the midst of a fertile country where three harvests a year cover the ground, which is sown but not tilled. The inhabitants of the country round Vera Cruz are in general robust and well made. They are strong and muscular; and nature has thrown round their persons an air of elegance in exact harmony with the devotion the Jarocho pays to three things: his horse, his sword, and his mistress.