Add To This The Never-Failing Cloak, And You
Have The Dress Of The Californian.
This last garment, the cloak, is
always a mark of the rank and wealth of the owner.
The "gente de razón,"
or aristocracy, wear cloaks of black or dark blue broadcloth, with as
much velvet and trimmings as may be; and from this they go down to the
blanket of the Indian; the middle classes wearing something like a
large table-cloth, with a hole in the middle for the head to go through.
This is often as coarse as a blanket, but being beautifully woven with
various colors, is quite showy at a distance. Among the Mexicans there is
no working class; (the Indians being slaves and doing all the hard work;)
and every rich man looks like a grandee, and every poor scamp like a
broken-down gentleman. I have often seen a man with a fine figure,
and courteous manners, dressed in broadcloth and velvet, with a noble
horse completely covered with trappings; without a real in his pocket,
and absolutely suffering for something to eat.
CHAPTER XIII
TRADING - A BRITISH SAILOR
The next day, the cargo having been entered in due form, we began
trading. The trade-room was fitted up in the steerage, and furnished
out with the lighter goods, and with specimens of the rest of the
cargo; and M - - -, a young man who came out from Boston with us,
before the mast, was taken out of the forecastle, and made supercargo's
clerk.
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