ULLOA's voyage to south AMERICA. 



333 



degree lower than what they aftually are, they are highly offended, never fufFering 

 themfelves to be deprived of fo valuable a gift of fortune. 



Before they attain the clafs of the Quinterones, there are feveral intervening cir- 

 cumflances 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 thefe with an Indian, or among themfelves. They are alfo diftinguilhed ac- 

 cording to the cafts their fathers were of. Betwixt the Tercerones and the Mulattos, 

 the Quarterones and the Tercerones, &c. are thofe called Tente en el Ay re, fufpended 

 in the air, becaufe they neither advance nor recede. Children, whofe parents are a 

 Quarteron or Quinteron, and a Mulatto or Terceron, are Salto atras, retrogrades, be- 

 caufe, inflead of advancing towards being Whites, they have gone backwards towards 

 the Negro race. The children between a Negro and Quinteron are called Sambos 

 de Negro, de Mulatto, de Terceron, &c. 



Thefe are the mofl known and common tribes or Caflas ; there are, indeed, feveral 

 others proceeding from their intermarriages ; but, being fo various, even they them- 

 felves cannot eafily diftinguilh them ; and thefe are the only people one fees in the city, 

 the eftancias*, and the villages ; for if any Whites, efpecially women, are met with, it is 

 only accidental, thefe generally refiding in their houfes, at leaft, if they are of any 

 rank or charader. 



Thefe cafts, from the Mulattos, all affeO: the Spanifh drefs, but wear very flight 

 fluffs on account of the heat of the climate. Thefe are the mechanics of the city ; 

 the Whites, whether Creoles, or Chapitones, difdaining fuch a mean occupation, 

 follow nothing below merchandize : but it being impoffible for all to fucceed, great 

 numbers not being able to procure fufficient credit, they become poor and mifer- 

 able from their averfion to thofe trades they follow in Europe ; and, inftead of the 

 riches which they flattered themfelves with poflTefling in the Indies, they experience the 

 moft complicated wretchednefs. 



The clafs of Negroes is not the leaft numerous, and is divided into two parts ; the 

 free and the flaves. Thefe are again fubdivided into Creoles and Bozares, part of 

 which are employed in the cultivation of the haziandes f, or eftancias. Thofe in the 

 city are obliged to perform the moft laborious fervices, and pay out of their wages a 

 certain quota to their mafters, fubfifting themfelves on the fmall remainder. The vio- 

 lence of the heat not permitting them to wear any clothes, their only covering is a fmall 

 piece of cotton ftuff about their waift ; the female flaves go in the fame manner. Some 

 of thefe live at the eftancias, being married to the flaves who work there ; while thofe 

 in the city fell in the markets all kind of eatables, and dry fruits, fweet-meats, cakes 

 made of the maize, and caflfava, and feveral other things about the ftreets. Thofe who 

 have children fucking at their breaft, which is the cafe of the generality, carry them on 

 their fhoulders, in order to have their arms at liberty ; and when the infants are hun- 

 gry, they give them the breaft either under the arm or over the fhoulder, without 

 taking them from their backs. This will, perhaps, appear incredible ; but their breafts^ 

 being left to grow without any prelTure on them, often hang down to their very waift, 

 ^nd are not therefore diflScult to turn over their flioulders for the convenience of the 

 infant. 



* Eftancia properly fignifies a manfion, or place where one ftops to reft ; but at Carthagena it implies a 

 country -houfe, which, by reafon of the great number of flaves belonging to it, often equals a eonfideraWe 

 village. 



f Hazianda in this place fignifies a country-houfe, with the lands belonging to it. 



The 



