30 AVOYAGETO Book L 



their origin. After thefe follow the Quarterones, pro- 

 ceeding from a White and a Terceron. The iaft are the 

 Qiiinterones,who owe their origin to a White and Qiiar- 

 teron. This is the laft gradation, there being no vifible 

 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 are alfo called 

 Spaniards, and confider themfelves as free from all taint 

 of the Negro race. Every perfon is fo jealous of the or- 

 der of their tribe or caft, that if, through inadvertence, 

 you call them by a degree lower than what they ad:ually 

 are, they are highly offended, never fuffering themfelves 

 to be deprived of lb valuable a gift of fortune. 



Before they attain the clafs of the Quinterones, there 

 are feveral intervening circumftances 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 diftinguifh- 

 ed according to the cafts their fathers were of. Be- 

 twixt the Tercerones and the Mulattos, the Quarterones 

 and the Tercerones, &c. are thofe called Tente en el 

 Ayre, fufpended in the air, becaufe they neither ad- 

 vance nor recede. Children^ whofe parents are a 

 Quarteron or Quinteron, and a Mulatto or Terceron, 

 are Salto atras retrogrades-, becaufe, inflead of ad- 

 vancing towards being Whites, they have gone back- 

 wards towards the Negro race. The children be- 

 tween a Negro and Quinteron are called Sambos de 

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



These are the moft known and common tribes or 

 Caftas ; there are indeed feveral others proceeding from 

 their intermarriages ; but, being fo various, even they 

 themfelves cannot eafily diftinguilh them ; and thefe are 

 the only people one fees in the city, the eftancias *, and 



the 



* Eftancia properly fignifies a manfion, or place where one flops 

 to refl; but at Carthagena it implies a country houfe, which, by 



