In the field, the Indian executes all the labor,—sometimes in the midst of the great plantations of sugar, cotton, coffee, corn, tobacco, wheat, and barley—or, at others, in the midst of the beautiful gardens for which some parts of the republic are celebrated. In all these positions his labor is faithfully performed;—but he is the enemy of all changes in the modes or utensils of his work. He prefers the old system of drawing water for irrigation; the old system of rooting the earth with the Arab stake instead of the American plough; the old system of carrying offal, stones, or whatever is to be removed from his fields, in bags, instead of in barrows or carts; and the old system of bearing every burden, no matter how onerous, on his shoulders instead of a dray or a wagon. It offends him to speak of changes, which he regards as unrighteous innovations. His character, like that of the Chinese, is one of excessive tenacity for old customs. After three centuries of constant intercourse with strange races, he still segregates himself from the foreigner, and, nestling in his native village, keeps aloof from the Spaniard. He speaks his hereditary language; clings to his old habits; and,—according to the report of reliable travellers,—worships, occasionally in private, his ancestral idols. In the capital, garlands which have been secretly suspended on the images by Indians, are still sometimes found around the hideous Aztec divinities preserved in the court yard of the University. "You gave us three very good gods"—said an Indian once to a respectable Catholic curate,—"yet you might as well have left us a few of our own!"
Grave, taciturn and distrustful,—types, in manners, of a crushed and conquered race,—the Indians of Mexico, wear a sombre look and demeanor, accompanied by an air of evident submissiveness. It is rare to find them merry, except at the end of harvest on the large estates, when an annual festival is prepared, in which they are accustomed to unite with great zest. They have other periods of cessation from toil, such as the Sabbath day, the feasts of the patron saints of their village or parish church. Upon these occasions their devotion to the externals of religion is exhibited by a lavish expense in articles which they imagine may