The present volume of Aimard's Indian Tales is devoted to the earlieradventures of those hunters, whose acquaintance the reader has formed, Itrust with pleasure, in the preceding series. It does not become me tosay anything further in its favour, than that the sustained interest ofthe narrative, which has been regarded as the charm of stories referringto life in the desert and prairie, has not been departed from in thisinstance. The stories themselves supply an innate proof of the writer'scorrectness to Nature, and, in truth, many of the scenes are sostartling that they must be the result of personal observation.
In conclusion, I may be permitted to thank the Press generally for thekindly aid they have afforded me in making the English translation ofAimard's volumes known to the British reading public, and the hearty wayin which they have recognized the merits of the previous series. Itwould be an easy task to collect paragraphs, expressing a belief thatAimard is second to none of the writers who have hitherto describedIndian life and scenery; but I prefer to rest my hopes of success on theinherent qualities of his stories.
LASCELLES WRAXALL.
In Mexico the population is only divided into two classes, the upper andthe lower. There is no intermediate rank to connect the two extremes,and this is the cause of the two hundred and thirty-nine revolutionswhich have overthrown this country since the declaration of itsindependence. Why this is so is simple enough. The intellectual power isin the hands of a small number, and all the revolutions are effected bythis turbulent and ambitious minority; whence it results that thecountry is governed by the most complete military despotism, instead ofbeing a free republic.
Still the inhabitants of the States of Sonora, Chihuahua, and Texas haveretained, even to the present day, that stern, savage, and energeticphysiognomy which may be sought in vain among the other States of theConfederation.
Beneath a sky colder than that of Mexico, the winter, which frequentlycovers the rivers of the region with a thick layer of ice, hardens themuscles of the inhabitants, cleanses their blood, purifies their hearts,and renders them picked men, who are distinguished for their courage,their intelligence, and their profound love of liberty.
The Apaches, who originally inhabited the greater portion of New Mexico,have gradually fallen back before the axe of the pioneers; and afterretiring into the immense deserts that cover the triangle formed by theRio Gila, the Del Norte, and the Colorado, they ravage almost withimpunity the Mexican frontiers, plundering, firing, and devastating allthey meet with on their passage.
The inhabitants of the countries we alluded to above, held in respect bythese ever-shifting savages, are in a state of continual warfare withthem, always ready to fight, fortifying their haciendas, and onlytravelling with weapons in their hands.
El Paso del Norte may be regarded as the outpost of the civilisedportion of Mexico. Beyond that, to the north and north-west, extend thevast unfilled plains of Chihuahua, the bolsón of Mapimi, and the ariddeserts of the Rio Gila. These immense deserts, known by the name ofApacheria, are still as little investigated as they were at the close ofthe eighteenth century. El Paso del Norte owes it