-72 A VOYAGE TO Book V. 



their time, and to the natural sloth and idlciCss of 

 others. 



The common people and Indiars are grea^^y ad- 

 dicted to theft, in which it must be owned they are 

 very artful and dextrous. The domestics also can- 

 not be said to be entirely free from this- fault, which 

 is attended with the inconvenience of reserve and sus- 

 picion on the part of their master. The Mestizos do 

 not want for audacity in any kind of theft or robbe- 

 ry, though in themselves arrant cowards. Thus, even 

 at an unseasonable hour, they will not venture to at- 

 tack any one in the street ; but their common prac- 

 tice is, to snatch oíF the person's hat, and immediate- 

 ly seek their safety in their flight j so that before the 

 person robbed can recover himself the thief is out of 

 sight. However trifling this may seem, yet some- 

 times the capture is very considerable y the hats ge- 

 nerally worn by persons of any rank, and even by the 

 wealthy citizens when dressed in their cloaks, are of 

 white beaver, and of themselves worth 15 or 20 dol- 

 lars, or more, of theQuito currency, besides a hatband 

 of gold or silver lacf, fastened with a gold buckle set 

 with diamonds or emeralds. It is very rare that any 

 such things as a robbery on the highway is heard of; 

 and even these may be rather accounted housebreak- 

 ing, as they are either committed by the carriers them- 

 selves or their servants. In order to execute their most 

 remarkable pieces of villany within the city, they set 

 lire, during thedarkness-oi the night, to the doors of 

 such shops or v.'arehouses, where they flatter ihem- 

 felves with the hopes of finding some specie; and hav- 

 ing made a hole sufficiently large for a man to creep 

 through, one of them enters the house, while the 

 others stand before the hole to conceal their accom- 

 plice, and to receive what he hands out to them. In 

 order to prevent such practices, the. principal tradeis 

 a.re at the exj)ence of keeping a guard, which 

 patroles all night through the streets whi?re attempts 



'oí: 



