Ch. V. SOUTH AMERICA. 273 



of this kind are most to be apprehended; and thus 

 the shops are secured ; for in case any house or shop 

 is broke open, the commander of the guard is obhged 

 to make good the damage received. 



Neither the Indians, Mestizos, nor any of thelow- 

 est class of people, think the taking any eatables a rob- 

 bery; and the Indians have a particular rule of con- 

 duct in their operations, namely, if one of them hap- 

 pens, to be in a room where there are several vessels of 

 silver, or other valuable effects, he advances slowly, 

 and with tlie utmost circumspection, and usually takes 

 only one piece, and that the least valuable, imagining 

 that it will not be so soon missed as if he had taken 

 one of greater price. If detected in the fact, he reso- 

 lutely denies it, with a yanga, a very expressive word 

 in his language, and now often used by the Spaniards 

 of this country, signifying that it was done without 

 any necessity, without any profit, without any bad in- 

 tention. It is indeed a word of such extent in discul- 

 pating, that there is no crime to which it is not appli- 

 cable with regard to the acquittal of the delinquent. 

 If he has not been seen in the very fact, be the circum- 

 stances ever so plain against him, the theft can never 

 be ascertained, no Indian having ever been known to 

 confess. 



In Quito, and in all the towns and villages of irs 

 province, different dialects are spoken, Spanish being 

 no less common than the Inga. The Creoles, in par- 

 ticular, use the latter equally with the former^ but both 

 are considerably adulterated with borrowed words and 

 expressions. The first language generally spoken by 

 children is the Inga ; the nurses being Indians, many 

 of whom do not understand a word of Spanish. Thus, 

 the children being first used to the Indian pronun- 

 ciation, the impression is so strong on their minds, 

 that few can be taught to speak the Spanish language 

 before they are five or six years old ; and the cor- 

 rupdon adheres so strongly to them, that the}^ speak 



Vol. L T a jargon 



