INHABITANTS. 149 



woman by a white man ; a quadroon is the offspring 

 of a mulatto woman by a white man ; and a mestizo, 

 or mustee, is the offspring of a white man and a 

 quadroon woman. The Spaniards, from whom these 

 appellations are borrowed, have 'many other and much 

 nicer distinctions, of which the following account is 

 given by Don Antonio de Ulloa, in his description 

 of the inhabitants of Carthagena : — 



"Among the tribes which are derived from an 

 intermixture of the whites with the blacks, the first 

 are the mulattos; next to these are the tercerons, 

 produced from a white and a mulatto, with some 

 approximation to the former, but not so near 

 as to obliterate their origin. After these, follow 

 the quarterons, proceeding from a white and a 

 terceron. The last are the quinterons, who owe 

 their origin to a white and a quarteron. This is 

 the last gradation, there being no visible 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 quinteron 

 consider themselves free from all taint of the African 

 race. Every person is so jealous of the order of 

 their tribe or caste, that if, through inadvertence, 

 you call them by a degree lower than what they 

 are, they are highly offended. Before they attain 



