the other servant was doing, he replies with great dudgeon
that they must not accuse him of being mabibig, or talebearer of what
happens. This is what takes place, even if the servants know that they
are flaying their master. Consequently, the first thing that they do
when any new servant comes is, to threaten him if he turn mabibig,
and afterwards make him do all the work that belongs to them all,
while the old servants are quite free from toil. Hence the fewer
servants a Spaniard has, the better served will he be; for only the
newcomer works and does everything, and the others not only do nothing,
but are all served by him. [205]

55. They have another peculiarity, which always causes me great
wonder. I am trying to discover the cause therefor, but I only find,
so far as I can make out, that it is due to their incapacity and
ingratitude and their horror of the Spaniards. This is, that while the
difference between the poverty, wretchedness, and want of their houses
and the anxiety and poverty in which they live, when compared with the
abundance, good cheer, good clothes, and comfort which they enjoy in
the service of certain Spaniards is almost infinite, if they happen
to be discharged, or to leave for some very slight cause occasioned
by their pride and vanity, they turn from one extreme to the other,
so contented with the present misery that they do not remember or
even consider the past abundance. If they be asked in what condition
they lived better, they answer that everything is one and the same,
and hence we do not get revenge by sending them away in anger [en
embiarlos con Dios]. But what great happiness is theirs! [206]

56. They would rather scorn the goods of the father or of the Spaniards
than enjoy them and profit by them. Hence what they lose is greater
than what they spend.

57. They are greatly lacking in foresight. Hence the servants and
stewards do not advise their master to procure any article until it
is completely gone. Therefore when they say that there is no more
sugar or no more oil, it is when there is not [oil] enough to whet
a knife. [207] Consequently, great deficiencies and annoyances are
suffered because of this custom.

58. If there are visitors or guests to dine with the master, they do
not consider the guests at all, thus causing the poor master of the
house great shame; [208] and it is necessary for him to excuse himself
by the poor instruction that the devil gave them in this matt