so A VOYAGE TO Book I. 



their origin. After tbefe follow the Quartcrones, pro- 

 ceeding from a White and a Tercerón. The laft are 

 the Quinterones, who owe their origin to a Wliite and 

 Quarieron. This is the laii gradation, there being no 

 viiible difference between them and the Whites, either 

 in colour or features ; nay, they are often fairer than 

 the Spaniards. The children of a White and Quinte- 

 rón are alio called Spaniards, and conlider themfclves 

 as free from all taint of the Negro race. Every perfoa 

 js fo jealous of the order of their tribe or caii, that if, 

 through inadvertence, you call them by a degree lower 

 than what they aflually are, they are highly oiFended, 

 never ílifíering themfelvcs to be deprived of fo valuable 

 a gift of fortune. 



Before they attain the clafs of the Quinterones, 

 there are feveral intervening circumftances which 

 throw them back ; for between the Mulatto and the 

 Negro there is an intermediate race, which they 

 call Sambos, owing their origin to a mixture between 

 one of thele with an Indian, or among themfclves. 

 They are alio diiTinguiflied according to the cafts their 

 fathers were of. Betwixt the Tercerones and the 

 Mulattos, the Quartcrones and the Tercerones, &c. 

 are thole called Tente en el Ay re, lufpended in the 

 air, becaufe they neither advance nor recede. Chil- 

 dren, thofe parents arc a Quarteron or Quinterón, 

 and a Mulatto or Tercerón, are Salto airas, retrogrades, 

 becaufe, infiead of advancing towards being Whites, 

 they have gone backwards towards the Negro race. 

 The children between a Negro and Quinterón 'are 

 called Sambos dc Negro, de INJulatto, de Tercerón, &c. 



These are the moft known and common tribes or 

 Caftas ; there are indeed feveral others proceeding 

 from their intermarriages ; but, being fo various, even 

 they themfclves cannot eañly difíinguiíli them ; and 

 thele are the only people one fees' in the city, the 

 eñancias *, and thq villages ; I'or if any Whites, efpe- 



cially 



* Eftancia properly figniiies a maniion, or place where one flops 

 to reft ; but at Cartbagena it implies a country-houle^ which, by rea- 



fon 



