524. ANNUAL REGISTER, 1S12. 



sale and retail. The shopkeepers 

 amount to nearly six hundred in 

 number; they sell woollen cloths, 

 silks, cotton goods of all sorts, hats, 

 and various other articles of wear- 

 ing apparel. Many of them make 

 considerable fortunes, those espe- 

 cially who trade to Lima, Peru, 

 Chili, or Paraguay, by means of 

 young men whom they send as 

 agents or factors. There is another 

 description of merchants, if such 

 they may be called, who keep in 

 the back-ground and enrich them- 

 selves by monopolizing victuals, 

 and by forestalling the grain 

 brought to market from the in- 

 terior, much to the injury of the 

 agricultural interest. 



The second class of inhabitants 

 consists of the proprietors of 

 estates and houses. They are in 

 general Creoles, for few Eu- 

 ropeans employ their funds in 

 building, or in the purchase of 

 land, until they have realised a 

 fortune to live upon, which com- 

 monly takes place when they are 

 far advanced in life, so that their 

 establishments pass immediately in- 

 to the hands of their successors. 

 The simple landholders derive so 

 little revenue from their posses- 

 sions, that they are generally in 

 debt to their tradesmen ; their 

 gains are but too commonly en- 

 grossed by the monopolists, and 

 having no magistrate to represent 

 them, they find themselves desti- 

 tute of effectual reiources against 

 wrong and extortion. So defect- 

 ive and ill-regulated are the con- 

 cerns of agriculture in this coun- 

 try, that the proprietor of an 

 estate really worth 20,000 dollars 

 can scarcely subsist upon it. 



Under the class of landed pro- 

 prietors I may reckon the cul- 



tivators, here called quinteros jj 

 or chacareros, who grow wheat, ' 

 maize, and other grain. These 

 men are so depressed and im- 

 poverished that, notwithstand- 

 ing the importance of their call- 

 ing, and the {)ublic usefulness of 

 their labours, they are ranked 

 among the people of least conse- 

 quence in societj-. 



The third class is composed of 

 handicraftsmen, such as masons, 

 carpenters, tailors, and shoe-ma- 

 kers, who, although they work 

 hard and receive great wages, sel- 

 dom realise property. The jour- 

 neymen are usually people of co- 

 lour ; the masters for the most part 

 Genoese, and universallj' foreign- 

 ers, for the Spaniards despise these 

 trades, and cannot stoop to work 

 along with negroes or mulattos. 

 Many of the lower orders derive 

 subsistence from these and other 

 employments of a similar nature; 

 here are lime-burners, wood-cut- 

 ters, tanners, curriers, &c. The 

 free porters constitute a numerous 

 body of men ; they ply about 

 the streets to load and unload 

 carts, and carry burdens, but they 

 are so idle and dissolute, that no 

 man can depend on their services 

 for a week together; when they 

 have a little money, they drink and 

 gamble, and when pennyless, they 

 sometimes betake themselves to 

 pilfering. These habits have long 

 rendered them a public nuisance, 

 but no corrective measures have 

 hitherto been taken, nor does there 

 appear, on the part of the higher 

 orders, any disposition to reform 

 them. 



Persons employed in public of- 

 fices may be comprehended under 

 the fourth class. The best situa- 

 tions under government are held 



^7 



