Page:Guatimala or the United Provinces of Central America in 1827-8.pdf/95



Population,—Its Characteristics,—Public Morals,—Police,—Political Offences,—Prison,—Lawsuits,—Education,—Schools, &c.

population of the city, according to a census taken in the year 1795, consisted of 24,434 persons; but as a considerable increase has taken place since that time, it may be fairly estimated at 35,000, including European Spaniards, white Creoles, Mulattoes and Indians. The offspring of negroes and Indians, of whites and Indians, as well as the descendants of African negroes, are included under the term mulattoes, by which they are generally known; sometimes, however, they are called mestizoes, or ladinos.

Each of these classes possess not only distinct, but widely different characteristics. The Europeans, proud of their Castilian blood, look with the most ineffable contempt upon the natives, whom they consider their inferiors, both in knowledge, industry, and in the exercise of the domestic virtues. The Americans, frankly acknowledging themselves deficient in information,