Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-03-28
Mexico.
xyanriss OF POPULATION AND CUSTOMS.

49, ihS W fofobAXAoN AMI Oos1oAs.
Of the fifteen thousand inhabitants
which Vera Cruz il said to contain,
ab6it one thousand are foreigners tenn
porarily engaged in business, and but
one in three can read or write.
The Indian predominates in numbers,
as in nearly all Mexican towns, the Span
lard holding the balance of wealth and
influence. The Mexican, sang rnr, is o
conglomerate of both these classes for,
in addition to the Iberian, two other
distinct races have contributed to make
up the motley population OF the city.
In no other place, perhaps, will one
meet with greater diversity of COM
plexion. The white and olive colored
creole and Spaniard the bronze-brown
mestiro, or mixed blood Of Spanish and
Indian the darker brown Indian him.
self the bistre-brown nelange, cross
between Indian and negro, known as
the zambo the unsdulterated negro,
and her mulatto, quadroon and octoroon
descendants, are all seen upon the
streets. With the single exception Of
the negro, all the above-named classes
may be encountered in nearly every
Mexican city, and each considered sep
arately or as a whole, is without social
prejudice or degradation. The negro,
however, is almost entirely confined to
the Gulf coast, and is here regarded
and treated as belonging to degraded
caste.
Possessing 80 mixed a population,
there is much about the customs and
many of the costumes of Vera Cruz to
impress the traveller with a certain pic
turesque and quaint oddness. In a
ramble about the streets in the early
m orning, which, next to the evening
hours, is the favorite time for walking
abroad, one encounters the sallow Gre
ole, slim and slender. imbed, dressed in
iipijapa hat, with short, round jacket
and pintaloons fitting tightly around
the hips parish cures in Don Basilio
hats monks from the monastery in long
robes and rope sash the haciendado in
splendid ranchero dress, with serape,
bright-colored velveteen trowsers, wide
hat, yellow leather boots and huge
spurs ; soldiers in straw hats and coarse
uniforms of cheap linen half-clad In
dams poblanas in sleeveless chemise
of snowy linen, pet'icoat with points of
lace, nude ankles and small well-shaped
feet encased in satin slippers negroes,
attired in white cotton garments, talk
ing and gesticulating at every street
corner /; and occasionally some grand
sonora in heavy black silk, with high
tortoise-shell or silver comb upon her
head, and black mantilla falling on her
shoulders, going to or returning from
church.
The market, which begins with the
dawn of the day, is thronged with In
dams and country women, busted at
this hour in arranging and displaying
their different commodities to advan-
tage; fruits of score of different
kinds, with birds in cages, ire-fies for
the decoration of the hair, several kinds
OF tortoises, armadilloes, and consid-
cradle variety of waterfowl. The show
of fish, for beauty and variety, is such
as can scarcely be conceived present.
ing more resplendent hues and variety
of form, when fresh from the water,
than birds and insects. Hundreds of
vari0us species, glowing in all the col
ors of the prism, and surprising the
most brilliant tints Of the humming.
bird, cover the stones of the market
place. The meat market, however, is
the reverse side of the picture the
flesh being cut in strips and sold by the
measure, presents very repulsive APP
pearance. It is thus exposed to the
air and dried without salt. Poultry,
which seems plentiful and cheap, occu-
pies another division of the market,
and the cooked meats third. The In
dian women, clean and neatly dressed,
by means of small fires Of charcoal
burning in earthenware dishes, prepare
in considerable quantities, and in vari-
ETY. of ways, meat, fish, poultry and
vegetables, finding their customers for
the most part among the poorer classes.
Their cooking is generally highly sea-
soned with chill, the favorite condi.
ment of the natives. The market women
also produce in beautiful way great
variety of liquors, of every color and
flavor. A large vase of red earthen-
ware, resembling the Etruscan, is filled
with water aLii nearly buried in wet
sand. A variety of flowers, principally
peoples, are then stuck in, among which
stand the glasses containing the snowy
colored beverages, which, with choco-
AotC, puiHu0 dnQ u hluu Va WHO kudu6
from the sap of the acrocomia palm,
are served out for triae. Bread is
prepared of a variety of forms and ma
terials and of good quality, while the
scarcer kinds of meat, brought from O
distance, are enclosed in coarse paste
pies, half baked to preserve them. Con-
siderable quantities Of the coarse red
earthenware of the country are exposed
in the markets; IN the manufacture of
of this ware the Mexican potters excel.
The forms and designs are generally
very elegant and of exceeding lightness
for their size,
| The dress OF the Indian hucksters
about the market is often of an exceed
ingly scant description. In this eli
mate, always mild, clothing of any sort
is required only for decency, not for
comfort. The garb of the men consists
of straw hat of considerable breadth
Of brim, tight-fitting jacket of different
dark. colored wooden stuifs, printed cal
leo or leather, and short pair Of
brooches, open at the knee, made gen.
orally of the skins of goat or peccary,
1 Al