Most of the Inhabitants are _Mulattoes_, that is of a tawny dark Colour, who live most upon Chocolate and Sweetmeats, extraordinary sober, and eating little Flesh. The Men are haughty, the Women keep retired above Stairs, not to be seen by Strangers, and seldom going abroad, and then in Coaches or Chairs, and those who cannot reach to it, cover’d with fine silk Veils, which reach from the Crown of their Heads to their Feet, leaving only a small Opening on the Right Side,[127] for them to see their Way. In their own Apartments they wear nothing but a Smock and a silk Petticoat, with gold or silver Laces, without any Thing on their Heads, and their Hair platted with Ribbons, a gold Chain about their Neck, Bracelets of the same and Pendants of Emeralds in their Ears. They could well enough like the Behaviour and Company of the French, but that the jealous Temper of the Men obstructs them. There being a Picture of _Philip_ King of _Spain_, now reigning, aboard the Ship in which my Friend was, who gave me this Account, the People swarm’d aboard to see it, they were never satisfy’d with gazing at it, and there was a most magnificent Festival kept in the Town, on Account of the Birth of the Prince of _Asturias_.
They understand Trade very well, but are sloathful and averse to Labour, fond of State and Ease. They wear great Strings of Beads about their Necks, their Houses are full of Pictures and Images of Devotion, and they have little that is real. They are decently furnish’d with Purceline and _China_ Goods. The Churches are magnificently adorned with Plate. But the Lives and Manners of the Clergy are not Edifying. On Holidays and _Sundays_ there is no Thought of Matins, of Sermon, or of Vespers: People chat and laugh in the Churches as well as in the Processions, which are often at Night by the Light of Torches.
All Strangers are forbid Trading there, yet some come by Stealth and deal Underhand, by Means of Presents made to such Persons as can favour them. If those Mulattoes call themselves white, it is only to honour themselves and by Way of Distinction from their Slaves, who are all Blacks, and having got much Mony by their Labour, ransome themselves and sometimes become considerable Merchants.