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and other grain. These men are so depressed and impoverished 

 that, notwithstanding the importance of their caUing, and the pub- 

 lic usefulness of their labours, they are ranked among the people of 

 least consequence in society. 



The third class is composed of handicraftsmen, such as masons, 

 carpenters, tailors, and shoe-makers, who, although they work 

 hard and receive great wages, seldom realise property. The 

 journeymen are usually people of colour ; the masters for the 

 most part Genoese, and universally foreigners, 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-cutters, 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 dispo- 

 sition to reform them. 



Persons employed in public offices may be comprehended un- 

 der the fourth class. The best situations under Government are 

 held by native Spaniards; those of less emolument by Creoles; 

 the former are regarded as mere sinecures, and the persons en- 

 joying them are considered as in no way serviceable to the commu- 

 nity except by spending their large salaries within it. 



The fifth class is the militia or soldiery. Previous to the 

 invasion of the English, the officers were not much noted for 

 military science, or for that ardour which leads to the acqui- 

 sition of it ; their chief ambition was to obtain commands in towns 

 and villages, especially those on the Portuguese frontier, where they 



