The flat sharp brims of passers-by are always threatening to cut your head off in the streets.

You cannot get into a carriage with your hat on, nor sit there when you are in.

But for walking and riding under a fierce sun, they are perhaps better than anything else that can be used.
The Mexican blanket--the serape--is a national institution; It is wider than a Scotch plaid, and nearly as long, with a slit in the middle; and it is woven in the same gaudy Oriental patterns which are to be seen on the prayer-carpets of Turkey and Palestine to this day.

It is worn as a cloak, with the end flung over the left shoulder, like the Spanish _capa_, and muffling up half the face when its owner is chilly or does not wish to be recognized.

When a heavy rain comes down, and he is on horseback, he puts his head through the slit in the middle, and becomes a moving tent.