hey are a labyrinth, in which the most sagacious man
loses his way. They appear ingenious and simple in countenance and
words, but they are masters eminent in deceit and feigning; under an
apparent simplicity they conceal an artful and crafty dissimulation. I
believe that the Indian never fails to deceive, unless when his own
interests are hindered. In their lawsuits and business dealings they
are like flies, which never quit what they are seeking, no matter how
much they are brushed away; and thus they surpass and conquer us. The
Chinese say that the Spaniard is fire, and the Indian is water, and
that water quenches fire. They neither resent an injury nor thank one
for a kindness. If you give them anything, they immediately ask for
another. There is no fixed rule for construing them; for each one is
needed a new syntax, because they are anomalous. With them the argument
is not concluded by induction, since no Indian resembles another,
nor even is one like himself; for in the short round of one day he
changes his colors oftener than a chameleon, takes more shapes than a
Proteus, and has more movements than a Euripus. He who deals with them
most knows them least. They are, in fine, a union of contrarieties,
which the greatest logician could not reconcile; they are an obscure
and confused Chaos, in which species cannot be perceived or formal
qualities distinguished; and if I had to define them I would say:

"Obstabatque alijs aliud, quia corpore in vno
Frigida pugnabant calidis, humentia siccis,
Mollia cum duris, sine pondere habentia pondus."

[332] Alluding to the irregular tides in the straits of Euripus,
between Euboea and Greece; during a large part of the month these tides
occur as often as eleven to fourteen times during the twenty-four
hours. Their irregularity occasioned among the Greeks a proverb,
which Delgado here uses.

[333] A name given by the inhabitants of Cuba to the natives of Mexico,
and in Vera Cruz to those of the interior. The name is also applied
to shrewd and brusque persons. (New Velazquez Dictionary.)

[334] These two rules are respectively: "Evil once, evil is always
presupposed;" and "Evil [may spring] from any failing."

[335] These chains were also of Chinese manufacture; apparently the
Filipinos took up this industry through their tendency to imitate.

[336] The Lygodium scandens, also called Gnito and nitongputi,
a climbing fern found throughout the Philippines. Blanc