Moral qualities of the Indians.—In his present condition, the Mexican Indian is grave, melancholy, and taciturn, as long as he is not under the influence of intoxicating liquors. This gravity is particularly remarkable in the children of Indians, who, at the early age of four or five years, display infinitely greater intelligence and development of mind than the children of whites. They delight in throwing an air of mystery over their most trifling remarks. Not a passion manifests itself in their features. At all times sombre, there is something terrific in the change, when he passes all at once from a state of absolute repose to violent and ungovernable agitation. The energy of his character, to which every shade of softness is unknown, habitually degenerates into ferocity. This is especially the case with the inhabitants of Tlascala. In the midst of their degradation, the descendants of these republicans are still distinguished by a certain haughtiness with which they are inspired by the remembrance of their former greatness. The indigenous natives of Mexico, like all other nations who have long groaned under civil and religious despotism, are attached, with an extreme degree of obstinacy, to their habits, their manners, and their opinions.
Assimilation of their Religious Belief.—The introduction of Christianity among them has scarcely produced any other effect than merely substituting new ceremonies, the symbols of a mild and humane religion,—for the ceremonies of a sanguinary worship. From the earliest periods, semibarbarous [293] nations have received new laws, and new divinities from the hands of their conquerors. The indigenous and vanquished gods give place to foreign deities. Indeed, in a mythology so complicated as that of the Mexicans, it was easy to discover an affinity between the divinities of Atzlan and those of the east. The Holy Spirit, for instance, was identified with the sacred eagle of the Aztecs. The missionaries not only tolerated, they even favored this mixture of ideas, by which the Christian worship became more speedily established. The English collector, Mr. Bullock, readily obtained leave from the clergy and authorities, in 1823, to disinter and take casts from the image of the sanguinary goddess Teoyamiqui.[149] During the time it was exposed, he adds, "the court of the University was crowded with people, most of whom expressed the most decided anger and contempt. Not so, however, all the Indians. I attentively marked their countenances; not a smile escaped them, or even a word—all was silence and attention. In reply to a joke of one of the students, an old Indian remarked, 'It is true we have three very good Spanish gods, but we might still have been allowed to keep a few of those of our ancestors.' I was informed that chaplets of flowers had been placed on the figure by natives, who had stolen thither unseen, in the evening, for that purpose; a proof that notwithstanding the extreme diligence of the Spanish clergy for 300 years, there still remains some taint of heathen superstition among the descendants of the original inhabitants." Yet it was, probably, a nobler impulse than superstition that wove the chaplet for the statue of Teoyamiqui; rather that mystery of nature, by which she links the present to the past with veneration, and to the future with anxiety,—that awful reverence with which the rudest nations look back to their origin and ancestors, and which even now, among the most enlightened, still consecrates the relics of Montmorillon and Stonehenge.
Their talent for Painting and Sculpture.—The Mexicans have preserved a particular taste for painting and for the art of carving on stone and wood. It is truly astonishing to see what [294] they are capable of executing with a bad knife, upon the hardest wood and stone. They exercise themselves in painting the images, and carving the statues of saints; but from a religious principle, they have continued too servilely intimate for 300 years, the models which the Europeans brought with them at the period of the original conquest. In Mexico as well as in Hindoostan, the faithful are not allowed to make the smallest change in their idols; every thing connected with the rites of the Aztecs was subjugated to immutable laws. It is on this very account that the Christian images have preserved in some degree, that stiffness and hardness of feature which characterised the hieroglyphical pictures of the age of Montezuma. They display a great deal of aptitude for the exercise of the arts of imitation, and still greater for those of a purely mechanical nature.
Want of Imagination.—When an Indian has attained a certain degree of cultivation, he shows great facility of acquiring information, a spirit of accuracy and precision, and a particular tendency to subtilize, or to seize on the minutest differences in objects that are to be compared with each other. He reasons coldly and with method; but he does not evince that activity of imagination, that lively freshness of sentiment, that art of creating and of producing, which characterises the people of Europe, and many tribes of African negroes. The music and dancing of the indigenous natives partake of that want of cheerfulness which is so peculiar to them. Their singing is of a melancholy description. More vivacity, however, is observed in their women than in their men; but they share the evils of that state of subjection to which the sex is condemned among most of those nations where civilization is still imperfect. In the dance women take no part; they are merely present for the sake of offering to the dancers the fermented drinks which they themselves had prepared.
Their taste for Flowers.—The Mexican Indians have likewise preserved the same taste for flowers that Cortez noticed in his time. We are astonished to discover this taste, which, doubtless, [295] indicates a taste for the beautiful, among a people in whom a sanguinary worship, and the frequency of human sacrifices, appear to have extinguished every feeling connected with sensibility of mind and the softer affections. In the great market of Mexico, the native does not even sell fish, or ananas, or vegetables, or fermented liquor, without his shop being decked out with flowers, which are renewed every succeeding day. The Indian shopkeeper appears seated behind a perfect entrenchment of verdure, and every thing around him wears an air of the most refined elegance.
Wild Indians.—The Indian hunters, such as the Mecos, the Apaches, and the Lipans, whom the Spaniards comprehend under the denomination of Indios bravos, and whose hordes, in their incursions, which are often made during night, infest the frontiers of New Biscay, Sonora, and New Mexico, evince more activity of mind, and more strength of character, than the agricultural Indians. Some tribes have even language, the mechanism of which appears to prove the existence of ancient civilization. They have great difficulty in learning our European idioms, while, at the same time, they express themselves in their own with an extreme degree of facility. These same Indian chiefs, whose gloomy taciturnity astonishes the observer, will hold a discourse of several hours, whenever any strong interest rouses them to break their habitual silence.
Prerogatives of the WHITES.—The greater or less quantity of European blood, and the skin being more or less clear, are at once decisive of the consideration which a man enjoys in society and of the opinion which he entertains of himself. A white who rides barefooted, fancies that he belongs to the nobility of the country. Colour even establishes a certain equality between those who, as every where happens where civilization is either a little advanced, or in a state of retrograde movement, take pleasure in refining on the prerogatives of race and origin.—When an individual of the lower orders enters into a dispute with one of the titled lords of the country, it is no unusual thing [296] to hear him exclaim to the nobleman, "It is possible that you really thought yourself whiter than I am?" Among the Metis and Mulattoes, there are many individuals who, by their colour, their physiognomy, and their intelligence, might be confounded with the Spaniards; but the law keeps them down in a state of degradation and contempt. Possessing an energetic and ardent character, these men of colour live in a state of constant irritation against the whites; and resentment too often hurries them into vengeance. It frequently occurs, too, that families who are suspected of being of mixed blood, claim, at the high court of justice, a declaration that they appertain to the whites. In this way, very dark colored Mulattoes have had the address to get themselves whitened, according to the popular expression. When the judgment of the senses is too palpably in opposition to the solicitations of the applicant, he is forced to content himself with somewhat problematical terms; for, in that case, the sentence simply states, that "such and such individuals may consider themselves as white."
New-Mexico.—Many French writers, and, among others, the Abbe Raynal, have spoken in pompous terms of what they term the Empire of New-Mexico;[150] and they boast of its extent and riches. Under this denomination they appear to comprehend all the countries between California and Louisiana. But the true signification of this term is confined to a narrow province which, it is true, is 175 leagues in length, but not more than thirty or forty in breadth.
Towns.—This stripe of country, which borders the Rio del Norte, is thinly peopled; the town of Santa Fe containing 4000 inhabitants; Albuquerque, 6000; and Taos, 9000, comprise almost one-half of the population. The other half consists of poor colonists, whose scattered hamlets are frequently ravaged by the powerful tribes of Indians who surround them, and overrun the province. It is true that the soil is amongst the finest and most fertile of Spanish America.
Productions.—Wheat, maize, and delicious fruits, especially [297] grapes, grow most abundantly. The environs of Passo-del-Norte, produce the most generous wines. The mountains are covered with pine trees, maples, and oaks. Beasts of prey are met with in great numbers. There are also wild sheep, and particularly elks, or at least large deer, fully the size of a mule, with extremely long horns. According to the Dictionary of Alcedo,[151] mines of tin have been discovered. There are several hot springs. Rivers with a saline taste, indicate the existence of rich beds of rock-salt.