Incidents of life and travel in remote regions, among the petty authorities and the _hacendados_, _rancheros_, and landowners generally, are full of colour and interest for the traveller. Our belongings are securely packed upon a couple of well-appointed mules; we are astride passable Mexican horses, seated on comfortable saddles, with our servant and the _arriero_ in attendance, and we have left the last of the city streets; with our face to the open country the true charm of travel comes upon us--the touch of Nature, solitude, and the far horizon which nothing else can ever supply. Thus accoutred we shall hold real converse with Nature, and with the typical people of the land over which we pass. Let us therefore turn our attention to the picturesque world of the great bulk of the Mexican population, the class which earns its daily bread by the sweat of its brow. These are the _peones_, and to their work is due the cultivation of the ground, the working of the mines, and all the manual labour without which the industries of the country would be non-existent. The _peon_ is not necessarily a forced labourer. Nevertheless, the conditions of his life are such that he is not a free agent as the working men of other countries are. His payment is largely received in goods which he is obliged to purchase in the general store of the _hacienda_, belonging to the proprietor, or by some one licensed thereby. This is a species of "truck" system. High prices and short weight--in accordance with the business principles underlying such systems--generally accompany these dealings. Moreover, as the _peon_ has often been granted supplies in advance, against future wages, he is generally in debt to the store, a condition which, purposely, is not discouraged. The law does not support the system, but as the whole area of land surrounding the _hacienda_ belongs thereto, the proprietor may or may not--generally the latter--permit the establishment of any independent shop in the vicinity. Indeed, such temerity on the part of any would-be merchant would soon call down punishment--if such it may be termed--from the myrmidons of the landowner, to whom the hunting of "contraband" vendors of goods or liquor is fair game. [Illustration: A TOBACCO-PRODUCING HACIENDA: STATE OF VERA CRUZ.] The house of the _peon_--the single-roomed adobe-built habitation, or the wattle-built _jacal_ in which he dwells, belongs to the estate owner; and if the dweller, through laziness or other similar cause, fails to put in an appearance in the fields, he is soon forced to vacate it, and, supposing him to be free from debt, to leave the _hacienda_. He toils all day in the fields, drawing a scanty wage, and retires at night to this primitive abode, which he shares with his female consort and her progeny.