Indeed, the elements of care and patience are much developed among these semi-civilised peoples. A Mexican _peon_ will not miss his way on the plains or in the mountains--the least indication will serve his recollection of the route, and, indeed, it is not necessary to enlarge upon the aborigine's natural science of woodcraft. Moreover, the _peon_ will carry any delicate object--a theodolite or barometer, or other scientific instrument, for example--with such care over the roughest and most precipitous places that it will never be injured, and where in similar situations, the clumsy European or American would inevitably bring it to disaster. The Mexicans are dexterous in pottery-making, and they fashion great _ollas_ to a wonderfully symmetrical form without other appliance than that of a small wooden paddle or beater, with which the red earth-mortar is shaped and patted into form. This method, indeed, dates from Aztec time, when there was no potter's wheel. They are sun-dried first and then baked. The makers of these, or the vendors, carry numbers of them about bound up in crates, a huge load on their backs; and as they are much in demand, the women rush out of their houses eager to purchase, as the _olla_-carriers enter the villages. These huge pots are mainly used for carrying water from the spring, and with a _reboso_ or shawl as a pad upon their shoulder or their head, the women walk gracefully along with their heavy burden of the necessary water-supply, at morning or evening. The _peon_ is ever ready to exchange work for play, or indeed to shelve the former altogether at times, and the numerous feast-days--the _dias de fiesta_--which are the despair of the foreign employer of labour in Mexico, fall in well with this disposition. The spectacle of the bull-fight appeals greatly to him, ever the national sport. Even in the small villages and _haciendas_, remote from the capitals, bull-fighting is the favourite sport, and local _toreros_ from among the middle-class young men of the place enter the arena to display their valour. A bull-ring is easily made in the _plaza_, or a _corral_ or courtyard, and young bulls, sometimes with their horns blunted to render the pastime less dangerous, are harried about the improvised arena in the usual style, the _picadores_, _bandilleros_ and _capeadores_ all taking up their office in approved style. The sport tries the mettle of these _aficionados_, as the amateur bull-fighters are termed, and many, considering discretion the better part of valour, promptly retreat and hurriedly climb the barrier as the angry bovine makes his entrance to the ring. As a rule, however, the young Spanish-Mexicans show a bold front to the animal. Is this not the sacred and national sport of the land of their forefathers? Does not the _sangre espanola_ run in their veins? None so low as to turn before a bull, or if he does the howls of the _peon_ spectators who line the walls will make him blush for shame.