differing in many points of appearance, and speaking--not dialects
but--languages entirely different. No less than twenty of these have
been traced, and of fourteen of them there are already grammars and
dictionaries. The Indian population is chiefly centered in the great
plains, and towards the south; and Humboldt thinks that it has flowed
from the north to the south. The history of four great migrations is
preserved in the annals of Mexico, which are worthy of more detailed
examination than we can bestow upon them. The great body of these
people live apart from the other races of their countrymen, in small
villages, full of ignorance, suspicion, and bigotry, and displaying an
apparent phlegm, from which it would seem impossible to arouse them.
This phlegmatic temperament lessens the credit of the men with the
females, who uniformly prefer the European, or the still more
vivacious negro. "The indigenous Mexican is grave, melancholic,
silent, so long as he is not under the influence of intoxicating
liquors. This gravity is peculiarly remarkable in Indian children, who
at the age of four or five years display more intelligence and
precocity than the children of whites. The Mexican loves to attach
mystery even to his most trifling actions; the strongest passions do
not display themselves in his countenance; the transition is frightful
when it passes suddenly from a state of absolute repose to that of
violent and unrestrained agitation." Slavery with them has engendered
guile. They are obstinate in all their habits and opinions; their
religion is one of mere ceremonial, justifying the observation of
a priest to Mr. Ward, "son mui buenos Catolicos, pero mui malos
Cristianos" (very good Catholics, but very bad Christians.) Deception
in this, as well as in every thing else, is the order of the day; and
the Indian Alcalde now oppresses the villagers as much as he himself
has ever been.