"_Settlements of Nuevo Mexico_."--Page 2. The settlements of New Mexico covered at one time a much wider extent of country than they do now. The Indians have been constantly narrowing the boundaries for the last fifty years. At present these settlements are almost wholly restricted to the banks of the Del Norte and a few tributary streams. "_Gramma grass_."--Page 2. The _Chondrosium_, a beautiful and most nutritions herbage that covers many of the plains of Texas and North Mexico. There are several species of grass known among Mexicans as "gramma"; one in particular, the _Chondrosium foeneum_, as a food for horses, is but little inferior to oats. "_Cackle of his fighting-cock_."--Page 7. There is no exaggeration in all this. Every traveller in Mexico has witnessed such scenes, and many have borne testimony to these and similar facts. I have often seen the fighting chanticleer carried inside the church under the arm of its owner, while the latter entered to pray! "_Fiestas principales_."--Page 7. The more noted Saints' days, or religious festivals, as Saint John's, Good-Friday, Guadalupe, etcetera, are so styled to distinguish them from the many others of lesser celebrity. "_Tailing the bull_."--Page 7. "Bull-tailing" (_coleo de toro_) and "running the cock" (_correr el gallo_) are favourite sports in most parts of Mexico, but particularly in the Northern provinces. They were also Californian games while that country was Spano-Mexican. "_The Apache_"--Page 8. One of the largest tribes of the "Indios bravos" or wild Indians, _i.e._ Indians who have never submitted to the Spanish yoke. Their country lies around the heads of the Gila, extending from that stream to the Del Norte, and down the latter to the range of another large and powerful tribe--the Comanches--also classed as "Indios bravos." "_Familias principales_."--Page 8. The "first families," a United States phrase, is the synonym of "familias principales" of Mexico. "_Comerciante_."--Page 8. Merchant or extensive trader. Merchandise is not degrading in Mexico. The rich merchant may be one of the "familias principales." Although there is still an old _noblesse_ in the Mexican republic, the titles are merely given by courtesy, and those who hold them are often outranked and eclipsed in style by the prosperous parvenu. "_Alcalde_."--Page 8. Pronounced Alkalde. The duties of the Alcalde are very similar to those of a magistrate or justice of the peace. Every village has its Alcalde, who is known by his large gold or silver-headed cane and tassel. In villages where the population is purely Indian, the Alcalde is usually either of Indian or mixed descent--often pure Indian.