The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-25 00:00:00

THE RANCHEROS OF MEXICO.

The Rancheros, part of the material of the Mexican
army, ..re half Indian and half Spanish in their ex-
traction ; gaunt, shriv• 11 d, though muscular in their
frames, and day k and swa.thy-visaged as they are,
these men are the Arabs of the American continent.
Living half of the time in the saddle, f..r they are un-
rivalled horsemen, with lasso in haed, they traverse
the va-t plains in s• arch of the buffalo and wild horse.
The kiFing of these a and the preparation ai d
sale of their hide: are th. it sole n eats of I velihorid.
Their costume gene, ally consists of a pair of tough hide
legtrin4s, with sandals of the same snikterial, bound to-
gether with leathern thongs, over wt,ich is a blanket
with it hole in the centre large enough to allow the
head to be thrust out, and which fads not ungracefully
ov ,r their shoulders, lesving ample room for the play
their arms. Add to this a broad straw sombroro, and
the lasso haa ting reads for use in his girdle, and you
have the Ranchero as he appears in the time of peace.
Join to th s a [mg lance with a sharp spear-head, and
his belt-. plentlully supplied with pi:tols and knives, and
you have the Run :hero as a memner of a troop of ban:-
ditti. or a aol ii >r is a body of cavalry. Their power of
enduring satigue is almost. inexhaus,ible. and a scanty
meal per diem of jerked beef and plantain suffices them
during months. These are the men who comprise the
great body of the Mexican cavalry, and they are to the
armies of that nation what the Cossacks are to the Rus-
sians—ever on the alert, never to be surprised, and un
tiring in the pursuit of the foe, when [dander, no matter
h iw trifling, is to be obtained.—Philadelphia Public
Ledger.

ELI HU BURKITT.
THE LEARNED A .:EIVCAN BLACKSMITH.

As this indefatigable tiattuthtopist will probably
visit Great Bri,ait: in the cow se of a few we, ks, it will
no doubt grAity many of our readers to 1. arts something
r garde g tos history. Elliot Burritt was born in N:
Britain, to, necticut, in the sear 1811, of honest and
spvctable parents. He enjoyed the pi ivil ge of ecca
sionatly attending the " district school " till he was 16
yea• s old, a hen his father dad. and he was al pt.. nticeo
to the trade of a blacksmith. The Bible was the first book
which he thoroughly studied; and at a very early age he
was familiar with almost every passage in the Old and
New Testaments. Mire he reached the age of 21, he was
conversant with the English classics, both in prose am.
poetry, and passed deligh fully many of his leisure hours
in piing- over the pages of Milton, Young, Thomson.
Cowper, Addison' &c. In the winter of the year
%via+ tie attained his majority, he comment!, d, under
the direction of a brother-in-law, who was an accom-
plished scholar, the study of mathematics. lie then en
tere.l iin the study of the Latin la,guage, for the pur-
pose of readivg. He s .on after turned his attention
to the French, Greek, and German languages. Atter
having in .stered the Hebrew, Greek. and Latin bin-
guatzeN, and ad the languages of modern Europe ;
by dint of hard labour he has b-come a p,oficient io
the most difficult langaages of Europe which are now
nearly disused and obsolete—among them are Gaelic,
Welsh, Celtic, Saxon. Gothic, Ic-latnalic, Russian,
Salvaanic Armenian, Chaldaic, 1., riac, Ethiopic, San-
serif, and Tamul ! It was stated in a public meeting.
in 1838. by Governor Ev.rett. that Mr. Buratt, b)
that time, by his unaided industry alone, had mad.
himself acquainted with fi ty la.taguagt s. Mr. Burritt
soows no disposition to relax ir nis labours. He
usually devo es eight hours to labour, with eight hours
to study, at eight h .urs to physical indulgence anti
repose ; and, by pursuing this course, he enjoys the
ad vantages—vainly coveted by many literary men
020,e connected with "a sound mind in a he lthy
body." N.T does he confine his labours to the mere
acquisition of literary wealth—he also diffu:es it wits.
a liberal hand. He has written many valuable articles
for periodicals of li,gh standing ; he has delivered
many lectures, which have been replete with interest
an 1 valuable info, minion ; and has been repeatedly
list, ned to by large and highly respectable audiences
in New York. Pni!adelphia, and other places, with
edification and de.hglit. He has not yet reached the
meridian of life, and it is to be hoped that many years of
usefulness are still before him ; he is indeed, a man of
whorls New &gland may well be prOud. Amongst his
works of philanthropy, Elihu Burritt issues almost.
weekly 1,000 or 1,200 of h•s " Olive Leaves" la. the
press ; and, in prootof his powers of writing, we may
mention the fite,—a fact perfectly unparalle.ed in the
annals of periodical literature—that the artacles thus
forwarded are regularly printed in about 300 newspapers
o various parts of the Union.