lodgings unless it is proposed to take them for a protracted period. Furnished rooms in desirable localities cost nearly as much as hotel apartments. Although unfurnished rooms may be secured, the cost for furnishing them is very considerable; still they rent for about onehalf the amount charged for furnished rooms. Casas de huespedes, corresponding to the American boarding house, abound, but as a rule the meals served are not of the best. Their charges are relatively moderate. The hotels are generally not provided with baths, but in Mexico City, as well as in every interior city and town, there are excellent public baths. The peons in the warm, well-wooded regions, build of wood, palm leaves, and stalks; in the table-lands, of adobe, the houses having flat roofs of stamped clay supported by beams. In the Indian villages the rudest possible habitations are to be seen, often being mere frameworks of limbs of trees with the bark on and thatched in on all sides with grass, palm leaves, or stalks. PUBLIC PORTERS A considerable number of the Indian population act as public porters on the highways. Men and women engage in this occupation, and many use alpenstocks while walking. An ordinary porter will carry a load of one hundred and fifty pounds for a distance of twenty miles daily. All kinds of merchandise are transported on the backs of porters. One Mexican traveler reports that he saw an Indian carrying a large sofa on the road from the City of Mexico to Cuernavaca. It was fastened to his body by means of ropes and straps passing across his breast and forehead, and extending under his arms. During the eighteenth century the Spanish priests are said to have imported donkeys, or burros, in large numbers to take the place of porters in carrying burdens. But the porters still follow their profession. The laboring classes of Mexico are exceedingly jealous of the introduction of labor-saving machinery. They regard it as an unwarranted means of preventing them from earning a living. Two occurrences in recent years, related by Alfred R. Conkling, will serve to illustrate the antagonism of the peons to modern improvements: Soon after the adoption of the compressed air-brake on the railroads of the United States, the Mexican Railway Company discharged several of their brakemen and introduced this improved brake on their trains. The company's servants rebelled against this system, and stole the stopcocks from the air-pipes, thereby compelling their employers to reinstate them. Recently the owner of a large hacienda purchased an outfit of American agricultural implements. His peons saw in them an unjustifiable interference with their own methods of farming, and in the course of a few weeks the enlightened hacendado discovered to his surprise that his stock of instruments had been destroyed. These facts are significant, but fortunately the intense feeling against new inventions and improved machines is confined to the lowest laboring classes. In constructing railroads, the contractors introduced the wheelbarrow among the peons. They carried it on their heads when filled with earth, and it was found that more work could be done with a gunny-bag held on the shoulders. MEXICAN COSTUMES The upper classes, especially the government officials, in Mexico, have in recent years discarded the national costume, and now wear the European dress. Black coats and silk hats are as commonly seen on the Plaza Mayor of the City of Mexico as on Broadway or Fifth Avenue. There is a great variety of costumes, however, among the country gentlemen, and among both sexes in the lower classes. The Mexican hat, or sombrero, is the most prominent part of the national dress. It is either of felt or straw, and has a very wide brim. When made of the former material, the color varies from light gray to brown and black. The crown is trimmed with a silver band, and the brim is oftentimes heavily embroidered with silver thread. The cords around the crown are either single, double or quadruple, and small silver ornaments called chapetas are attached to both sides of it. Straw hats are generally provided with puffed bands of the same material, and occasionally silver cords are worn on them. The peasantry wear plain straw hats and white cotton shirts and trousers. Cloaks of water-flags or palm-leaf strips are used by the Indians. They are impervious to the rain. A zarape, or blanket woven either of woolen goods or of both wool and cotton, is worn in the early morning and in the evening. An infinite variety of patterns may be seen in these zarapes. Stripes of various shades of red, yellow, and brown, are the prevailing colors. Unlike the ponchos and mangas of Spain, the zarapes are thrown over the shoulder instead of inserting the head through a hole or slit in the middle. However, some of the latter style of blankets are worn, especially by diligence-drivers and donkey-boys. Stage-coachmen also wear leggings embossed with large nail-heads. Huaraches, or leathern sandals, fastened with straps over the instep and across the ball of the foot, take the place of boots or shoes among the lower classes. The usual style of dress among the peasant women consists of a white waist and skirt, with a blue scarf or shawl (rebozo). Straw hats, like those worn by the poorer class of men, are donned by the women. The ladies in cities are generally dressed in plain black, and without a bonnet. They carry black silk parasols and black fans. The mantilla is now generally disused. Since 1881 young ladies, especially in the City of Mexico, have been wearing hats of foreign make and dresses of various colors. The American consul at the capital in 1880 said that his wife was compelled to send to the United States for a bonnet, being unable to purchase one in the City of Mexico. The hacendados and country gentlemen usually wear suits of black cloth, consisting of a short jacket with silver buttons, a waistcoat cut low, and pantaloons opening on the outside of the leg, with two rows of fancy silver buttons along the outer seam. A faja, or sash, which is commonly of a red color, is added to the costume, and the boots are made with high heels. This dress is worn in the tierra fria (colder regions), and in the upper part of the tierra templada (temperate region). In the tierra caliente (hot country), the gentry wear plain white cotton suits with sombreros of felt or straw. In riding through the underbrush, chaparraleros, or loose leather trousers, are worn over the ordinary pantaloons. Except in the large cities, swords or machetes are usually attached to the saddle-bow. CHAPTER XXIII THE ALCABALA SYSTEM The alcabala system of taxation in Mexico is so little understood abroad that it will not be out of place to give a short resumé of it here. Escriche, in his law dictionary, defines the word "alcabala " as follows: "The tribute tax charged upon the proceeds of all sales or barters, which is paid into the public treasury." The etymology of the word is doubtful. It is not known whether it is of Moorish, Hebrew or Latin origin, or is a corruption of the Spanish phrase algo que valga (al que vala), which means "something of value." The alcabala was first established in Mexico at the beginning of the year 1575, and the tax could be farmed out to corporations, civil or municipal, or individuals, being purchaseable at public auction. The term "alcabala" was generic and included import duties as well as the tax on sales. Under this system the exportation of articles, especially of precious metals, which were greatly handicapped by excessive duties, was restricted. The first alcabala laws promulgated in Mexico, or New Spain, in the course of time were gradually modified, and assuming different forms and expanding, constituted eventually a complete branch of jurisdiction. The commercial movement of the Spanish colonies was much impeded by the Spanish laws, or as was stated by a writer in a Mexican publication, " was subject to regulations which, by an inexplicable contradiction, were called free trade regulations." These regulations prohibited |