Another large and formidable body in Mexico is that of the _Indians_, amounting, as we have seen, to four millions; whose knowledge of their governors' language is generally confined to such phrases as will enable them to buy and sell, or perform the ordinary functions of life. Formerly they lived, and usually still live, in narrow huts built of mud, thatched with straw or palm leaves, and which have scarcely the merit of being picturesque. In these miserable lairs, they nestle with their families, their domestic animals, and a table or altar on which they erect a cross or place the figure of a patron saint. Their food is mostly maize, and their dress corresponds with this grovelling wretchedness. Five out of every hundred may perhaps possess two suits of clothes, but their general vesture consists of a large cotton shirt, a pair of leathern trousers, and a blanket. Even the Indian women, who elsewhere, like their sex in civilized countries, are always fond of personal adornment, exhibit no desire to appear decent or to rival each other in tasteful ornaments when they go abroad. They are as foul and ill-clad on their festivals at church, as in their hovels at home, so that few things are more disgusting to a foreigner than to mingle in an Indian crowd.[11] It is impossible to imagine such a population capable of becoming landed proprietors; and, consequently, we find them contented with the annual product of their small fields, amounting, perhaps, to thirty or fifty _fanegas_ of corn. When they live on the large estates of Mexican proprietors, they are, in reality, vassals, although free from the nominal stain of slavery.[12] On these plantations they are beaten when they commit faults, and, if then found incorrigible, are driven beyond their limits,--a punishment deemed by them the severest that can be inflicted, and which they bear with as much difficulty as our Indians do their banishment from the "hunting grounds" of their forefathers. When they have gained a little money by labor, they hasten to squander it by making a festival in honor of their favorite saint, and thus consume their miserable earnings in gluttony, gambling, masses, fire works, and drunkenness. When it is not absolutely necessary to toil for the necessaries of life,--especially in the _tierras calientes_, or warmer portions of Mexico,--they pass their time in utter idleness or sleep. Zavala declares that in many portions of the country, the _curates_ maintain such entire dominion over the Indians, that they order them to be publicly whipped whenever they fail to pay their _ovenciones_, or tributes, at the regular time, or commit some act of personal disobedience. But the degradation of this class does not stop even here, for the same author alleges that he has frequently seen many Indians and their wives flogged at the village church door, because they had failed to come to mass upon some Sunday or festival, whilst, after the punishment, these wretches were obliged to