Sketches of the campaign in northern Mexico : in eighteen hundred forty-six and seven / by an officer of the First Regiment of Ohio volunteers.

MEXIC.AN MUJ,ETEER-Sc. 109
ness at dawn. But it was not until the' sun had been up
several hours, that the mnuleteers made tl-eir appearance with
the animals assigned to our brig'ade.
The mules of Mexico have always been usefully employed
in its domestic commerce, and, indeed, a)ppear to be all-sufficient carriers. Like the camels of Arabia, they are peculiarly adapted to the country and primitive condition of their
masters. But to persons, fresh from a land in which all the
many wonderful inventions in art and science are made subservient to the wants of man, a pack-mule is almost as great
a curiosity as a battering-ram, or any other relic of a barbarous age; and accordingly we contemplated with some interest,
the little animals, as unbridled and with most provoking and
mulish nonzcalantce, they strayed slowly toward us from
their pasture in the chaparral. Each of them was covered
fi'onl neck to tail with a huge, arching saddle, of itself no
light burden, upon which was to be packed a load of from
three to follur hundred pounds. One of the mules was laded
with ropes of hide, to be usedl in fasteningr the packs. To
another, the most staidcl and venerable member of the drove,
was attached a bell. Ile enjoyed the honor of leading the
train, and of carrying the large, smooth stone, uponm which the
drivers crush corn for their frugal meals of cpan-c'e-maizve.
The muleteers were stout, athletic fellows, aind the most
uncouth, as well, perhaps, as the hardiest class in Mexico;
where the mixture of various races has resulted in the production of some strange looking species of the geznus 7omo.
Their features and those of the rancheros generally, are large,
but less prominent than those of our Indians; their lips,