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nydus/Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Volume IIPublic
Page 585 of 678
Table of Contents

THE TERRITORY OF NEW MEXICO.

Upon these estimates and calculations it would perhaps be fair, in arriving at a proximate enumeration of inhabitants, to give the following ratios:—

Wild Indians , according to Governor Charles Bent,36,950
Pueblo Indians , according to enumeration,6,524
White Creoles , according to Dr. Gregg,1,000
Mestizos , " " "59,000
Americans , according to Hon. Hugh N. Smith,1,500
104,974
Deduct from this for Wild Indians ,36,950
68,024
Deduct from this for Pueblo Indians ,6,524
Proximate Total of Pure Whites and Mixed Races , [73]61,500

The more civilized inhabitants of New Mexico resemble their parent stock in character and manners, save that they are somewhat tinctured with the habits of the Indian race, whose blood is mingled more or less in the veins of all classes. The men are homely, the women pretty, and while the former are generally condemned for their indolence, insincerity and treacherousness, the latter are praised by all travellers for their frank, affectionate and gentle demeanor. Very little was ever done for education in this remote Territory, which was almost cut-off from the civilizing influences of the rest of the world. Its governors,—either sent by the central authorities of the Mexican Republic, or chosen by the people themselves,—were often overthrown by bloody revolutions; but, while in power, they used their offices as a prolific means of enriching themselves. Their intercourse with strangers from the north, and their facilities in fraudulently collecting or compromising duties upon the trade of the caravans, were constantly taken advantage of by the rapacious chiefs; nor could the national authorities attempt to control them, for the distance of Santa Fé from the capital always made the

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