However, the brown race has produced some of the best of Mexico's people. The famous Juarez, the lawyer-president who preceded Diaz, and who was responsible for some of the most important measures of reform, was a pure Indian by birth, and Diaz himself was proud of his partly aboriginal ancestry. In fact, it cannot be said that there is any dividing line in the composition of the Mexicans. The bulk of the people are thus of _mestizo_ or mixed race, but there are various districts where only pure Indians are found. The working population of the country, perhaps three-quarters of the total, are peones. Peonage is a state of what might be termed debt-bondage. They dwell upon the great landed estates, dependent for their livelihood upon the owners of these, unable to leave them, and are paid their small wage largely in goods under a species of "truck system." They are often purposely kept in debt. Their economic condition is a low one. They own nothing of the land upon which they dwell; they carry on occupations which are not profitable to themselves, and are subjected to many abuses in this respect; they dwell in _adobe_, or dried mud huts, generally of the poorest kind; their food is of the most primitive, and often scanty--meat is an article which rarely enters into their diet; if a cow dies on the plain they cut it up for food--but nevertheless they labour hard from sunrise to sunset upon a diet of maize and beans. This class is almost wholly illiterate, although there has been some improvement of late years in this respect. [Illustration: VILLAGE ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE, MEXICO. Vol. I. To face p. 140.] It is not to be supposed that this numerous class is an unworthy one. On the contrary, the Mexican peon is industrious, faithful, courteous, and deeply religious--religion, however, greatly mixed with superstitions. As an agriculturist he does not lack capabilities, and as a miner the Mexican, as we have seen, is an excellent workman in many respects. In brief, the working class of Mexico is the most important and homogeneous body of brown labour in the world. The European or American mine or plantation manager (who was until recently plentifully established in the country) may often express very diverse views in this connexion, but from a more detached point of view the above characterization is true. As for the working class Mexican woman, she has many good qualities, and is often of pleasing appearance, whilst among some of the Indian tribes the girls are handsome. The upper class Mexican is generally well educated, often having been sent to Europe or the United States for his education. He has the pleasing courtesy of the Spanish race, and is frequently a well-informed man of the world. However, it cannot be said that education in the United States is necessarily an improvement. There is something about the association which is not pleasing. He becomes too "smart" and cynical.