The women of Lima are gifted by nature with extraordinary natural talent, though unfortunately it is rarely cultivated. They possess shrewd and penetrating intelligence, clear judgment, and in general very just views on the ordinary affairs of life. Like the women of the southern provinces of Spain, they are remarkable for quickness and smartness of repartee, and in a wordy contest a Limena is sure to come off triumphant. They have a great deal of decision of character, and a degree of courage which does not usually fall to the lot of the female sex. In these respects they are infinitely superior to the timid, spiritless men. In the various political revolutions of the country, the women have often taken an active, and, in some instances, a more decided part than the men.

The Indians in Lima form but a small portion of the population, being about 5000 in number. Among them are as many emigrants as natives. Most of the former are from the mountainous districts, and but few are from places on the coast. Their character is, of course, much modified by continual intercourse with the whites; but I will endeavor to describe them as they show themselves in their original purity, marking the distinctions observable between the Indio Costeno (the Coast Indian), and the Indio Serrano (the mountain Indian). The Indians in Lima are active and industrious. Many of them are shopkeepers, and by the integrity of their dealings they stand on a footing of good credit with the great commercial houses. Those who are employed as servants are less remarkable for industry and honesty. They are reserved and suspicious; qualities especially observable when they have but recently emigrated into Lima. They combine personal vanity with an inconceivable degree of dirtiness. Their intellectual faculties are far beneath those of the white Creoles, of whom they stand in a degree of fear, which is not easily eradicated.

At a former period there existed in Lima a college exclusively for noble-born Indians; and the eldest sons of the families descended from the Incas, when they wished to study, were received at the expense of the State into the College of San Carlos; but since the declaration of independence, all the privileges enjoyed by the Indians have been annulled.

The negroes in Lima form one-fifth part of the population. Their number amounts to upwards of 10,000, of which 4800 are slaves. Though an article in the Charter of Independence declares that "in Peru no person is born a slave," yet the National Congress has on various occasions thought fit to deviate from this principle. In Huaura it was decreed that children born in slavery shall be free on attaining the age of twenty-five, and the Congress of Huancayo prolonged the period to fifty years. There are no new importations of negroes from Africa, for an article in the Charter just mentioned sets forth that "every person who may be brought, as a slave, from another country to Peru, is free from the moment when he sets foot on the soil of that republic." Accordingly, if a Peruvian take his slave with him on a journey to Chile, and brings him back again, the slave may, on his return, claim his freedom. The only exception to this rule refers to runaway negroes, who, even after years of absence, may be reclaimed on their return. The value of slaves is not so high in Peru as in the southern states of North America. In Lima, the average price of a young, strong, and healthy negro is 400 dollars; the price of a negress, especially a Negra de Chavra (capable of field work), is 100 dollars higher. The value of those destined for domestic service depends on character and qualifications. A negress who is a good cook or needlewoman, is of course worth more than a negro who is to be employed as a water-carrier or a footman. In the plantations their value depends wholly on health and strength.

The treatment of slaves in Lima, especially by the Creoles, is exceedingly mild, and generally much on the same footing as the treatment of servants in Europe. It is seldom that a master inflicts severe corporal chastisement on a slave. If the latter requires punishment, he is sent into the Panaderia (the bakehouse) to knead the dough and bake the bread, which work they perform under the supervision of a Mayordomo, who is usually a hard task-master. Owing to the heat of the climate, working in the Panaderia is more feared by the slaves than any other kind of punishment.

In Lima the special laws for the protection of slaves are more favorable to them than the similar laws of any other slave country. The slaves bring their complaints before a particular judge, whose business it is to protect them against ill-treatment. A slave is free whenever he can pay the sum which his master demands for him,—which sum, in disputed cases, is fixed by legal decision. The slave also possesses the right of selling himself to another master, and the latter may pay the purchase-money to the former owner, who, however unwillingly, is obliged to conclude the bargain. The negroes have ample opportunities for saving money. They are permitted, during five or six hours of the day, to work for themselves; so that in the course of a few years they may with ease save the sum requisite for purchasing their independence. But in general they spend their earnings in mere idle enjoyments, and care but little about obtaining their freedom. As slaves they are provided with lodging, food, and clothing, and they are nursed in sickness; but as soon as they become free, they must supply all these wants for themselves; an undertaking which their natural indolence renders them little inclined to. On the whole, domestic negroes may be said to be willing slaves; it is possibly different with those employed in the plantations, who are liable to harder work and harsher treatment. I knew an old negro, who had hoarded up 6000 dollars, and yet did not purchase his own freedom, though he had paid for the liberation of his children and his two sisters. He often observed to me, that he should not be half so well off if he were free.

The negroes brought from Africa, who are called Bosales, are far better than the Creole negroes. In physical strength they are inferior to the latter, and are less lively; yet they are patient, and much more faithful and attached to their masters than the Creole negroes born in Peru. The Bosales all have a certain degree of pride, but especially those who are of princely blood. A gentleman of old Spain bought a young negro princess, who not without the greatest difficulty could be brought to perform the duties of servitude. When she was directed to go to market, she set her basket down on the ground, and signified that she had been accustomed to be served, and not to serve. Some chastisement was resorted to, with the view of compelling her to do the duty allotted to her; but in vain. Her pride and obstinacy remained unconquerable. Sometimes she would sit for hours gloomily, with her eyes fixed on the ground, and muttering between her teeth, in her broken Spanish, the words, "Yo clavita! yo clavita!"[24] Then suddenly springing up, she would strike her head against the wall until she became almost senseless. As she showed a fondness for the children of the family, she was relieved from household work, and became the nursery-maid. In that way she discharged the duties which devolved on her with the most touching affection and fidelity; but she never would do anything, however trivial, which she considered to be menial service, and her master and mistress were reasonable enough not to require it.

When the number of the African negroes in Lima was more considerable than it now is, the various races kept together, and formed themselves into unions, called Cofradias. They used to meet together at regular periods. At these meetings the negroes of princely descent were treated with marks of respect which they could scarcely have received in their native home. Speeches were delivered, and religious ceremonies performed; whilst music, singing, and dancing, revived recollections of past happiness, and of the far-distant native land. These Cofradias were also conducive to philanthropic ends; for when a slave had a hard master, the sum requisite for purchasing his freedom was raised by a general subscription in the union to which he belonged. Since the independence of Peru, and the consequent prohibition of the importation of negroes, the Cofradias have declined, and have lost much of their original character. Creoles and free negroes have now become members of them. The places in which these meetings are held are situated in the suburb of San Lazaro. The walls of the rooms are painted with grotesque figures of negro kings, elephants, camels, palm trees, &c.

In Lima, and indeed throughout the whole of Peru, the free negroes are a plague to society. Too indolent to support themselves by laborious industry, they readily fall into any dishonest means of getting money. Almost all the robbers who infest the roads on the coast of Peru are free negroes. Dishonesty seems to be a part of their very nature; and moreover, all their tastes and inclinations are coarse and sensual. Many warm defenders of the negroes excuse these qualities by ascribing them to the want of education, the recollection of slavery, the spirit of revenge, &c. But I here speak of free-born negroes, who are admitted into the houses of wealthy families, who from their early childhood have received as good an education as falls to the share of many of the white Creoles—who are treated with kindness and liberally remunerated, and yet they do not differ from their half-savage brethren who are shut out from these advantages. If the negro has learned to read and write, and thereby made some little advance in education, he is transformed into a conceited coxcomb, who, instead of plundering travellers on the highway, finds in city life a sphere for the indulgence of his evil propensities. What is the cause of this incorrigible turpitude of the negroes? To answer this important question is not easy, if we admit the principle that the negro is as capable of cultivation as the Caucasian; and in support of it the names of some highly-educated Ethiopians may be cited. Those who are disposed to maintain this principle, and who are at the same time intimately acquainted with the social relations of the countries in which free negroes are numerous, may solve the problem. My opinion is, that the negroes, in respect to capability for mental improvement, are far behind the Europeans, and that, considered in the aggregate, they will not, even with the advantages of careful education, attain a very high degree of cultivation; because the structure of the negro skull, on which depends the development of the brain, approximates closely to the animal form. The imitative faculty of the monkey is highly developed in the negro, who readily seizes anything merely mechanical, whilst things demanding intelligence are beyond his reach. Sensuality is the impulse which controls the thoughts, the acts, the whole existence of the negroes. To them freedom can be only nominal; for if they conduct themselves well it is because they are compelled, not because they are inclined to do so. Herein lie at once the cause of, and the apology for, their bad character.

The negro women differ but little from the men, in their general characteristics. They are, however, more active and industrious, and better tempered. As domestic servants they are superior to the mixed races. They are much employed as nurses, and in those situations they discharge their duties well. Their personal vanity is boundless, and every real they can save is spent in dress and ornaments. It is amusing to see them, on festival days, parading about the streets, dressed in white muslin gowns trimmed with lace, and short sleeves displaying their black arms. Very short petticoats, seldom extending below the ankle, serve to exhibit the tawdry finery of red silk stockings and light blue satin shoes. From their ears are suspended long gold drops, and their uncovered necks are not unfrequently adorned with costly necklaces. A negress, who was a slave belonging to a family of my acquaintance, possessed a necklace composed of fine Panama pearls, worth several thousand dollars. The pure white of the pearls was wonderfully heightened by the contrast of the jet-black skin of the wearer; and for this reason they were more ornamental to the negress than they would have been to the fairest lady in Europe.

Having noticed the principal races, we will now consider the variegated mass of people of mixed blood, who in Lima form a considerable portion of the population. Stevenson[25] gives a long list of these mixed races, and specifies the proportionate degree, that is to say, how many eighths or sixteenths of black, brown, or white color belong to each. But these data respecting tint are fallacious, for, being founded solely on external appearance, they are liable to endless modifications. Stevenson falls into the mistake of giving to the children of a negro father and a white mother, the name of Zambos; whilst to the offspring of a white father and a black mother, he gives the name of Mulattos. By a similar error, he terms the children of a white man and a Cuarterona, Quinteros; and to those of a Cuarteron and a white woman, he gives the designation Cuarterones. It is, however, an established rule, that the children bear the designation, denoting the same degree of mixed blood, whatever may respectively be the colors of the parents. Accordingly, the child of a negro and a white woman is, properly speaking, a Mulatto; just the same as though the relations of race on the part of the parents were transposed. When a man of mixed blood marries a woman darker than himself, and his children thereby become further removed from the white tint, it is said to be un paso atras (a step backwards).

In Europe it is very common to attach to the term Creole, the idea of a particular complexion. This is a mistake. The designation Creole properly belongs to all the natives of America born of parents who have emigrated from the Old World, be those parents Europeans or Africans. There are, therefore, white as well as black Creoles.[26]

The subjoined list shows the parentage of the different varieties of half-casts, and also the proper designations of the latter:—

PARENTS. CHILDREN.

White Father and Negro Mother Mulatto. White Father and Indian Mother Mestizo. Indian Father and Negro Mother Chino. White Father and Mulatta Mother Cuarteron. White Father and Mestiza Mother Creole (only distinguished from the White, by a pale-brownish complexion). White Father and China Mother Chino-Blanco. White Father and Cuarterona Mother Quintero. White Father and Quintera Mother White. Negro Father and Mulatta Mother Zambo-Negro. Negro Father and Mestiza Mother Mulatto-Oscuro. Negro Father and China Mother Zambo-Chino. Negro Father and Zamba Mother Zambo-Negro (perfectly bl'k). Negro Father and Cuarterona or Quintera Mother Mulatto (rather dark). Indian Father and Mulatta Mother Chino-Oscuro. Indian Father and Mestiza Mother Mestizo-Claro (frequently very beautiful). Indian Father and China Mother Chino-Cholo. Indian Father and Zamba Mother Zambo-Claro. Indian Father and China-Chola Mother Indian (with rather short frizzy hair). Indian Father and Cuarterona or Quintera Mother Mestizo (rather brown). Mulatto Father and Zamba Mother Zambo (a miserable race). Mulatto Father and Mestiza Mother Chino (of rather clear complexion). Mulatto Father and China Mother Chino (rather dark).

Besides the half-casts here enumerated, there are many others, not distinguished by particular names, as they do not in color materially differ from those above specified. The best criterion for determining the varieties is the hair of the women: this is far less deceiving than the complexion, for the color of the skin is sometimes decidedly at variance with that characteristic of the race. Some of the Mulatta females have complexions brilliantly fair, and features which, for regularity, may vie with those of the most beautiful women of Europe; but they bear the unmistakeable stamp of descent in the short woolly hair.

The white Creole women of Lima have a peculiar quickness in detecting a person of half-cast at the very first glance; and to the less practised observer they communicate their discoveries in this way, with an air of triumph; for they have the very pardonable weakness of priding themselves in the purity of their European descent. Despite the republican constitution, there prevails throughout Peru a strong pride of cast, which shows itself at every opportunity. In quarrels, for example, the fairer antagonist always taunts the darker one about his descent. By all the varieties, the white skin is envied, and no one thinks of disputing its superiority of rank. The Indian looks with abhorrence on the Negro; the latter with scorn on the Indio. The Mulatto fancies himself next to the European, and thinks that the little tinge of black in his skin does not justify his being ranked lower than the Mestizo, who after all is only an Indio bruto.[27] The Zambo laughs at them all, and says "if he himself is not worth much, yet he is better than his parents." In short, each race finds a reason for thinking itself better than another.

In the commencement of the present chapter I made the observation that the people of mixed blood unite in themselves all the faults without any of the virtues of their progenitors. To this general remark, however, the Mestizos form an honorable exception. They inherit many of the good qualities both of the Whites and the Indians. They are mild and affectionate. Their feelings are very excitable, and they readily perform an act of kindness or generosity on the impulse of the moment—but they are irresolute and timid. They attach themselves affectionately to the Whites; but they are not partial to the Indians, whom they regard with some degree of contempt. In Lima their number is less considerable than in the interior of the country, where whole villages are inhabited solely by Mestizos. In those places they style themselves Whites, and hold themselves very much aloof from the Indians. One cannot pay them a better compliment than to inquire whether they are Spaniards, a question which they always answer in the affirmative, though their features are plainly impressed with the Indian stamp. The complexion of the Mestizos is usually a clear brown; but in some individuals it has a very dark tinge. Their hair is sleek, long, and very strong. The women frequently wear their hair in two long plaits descending nearly to the knees. The men are strongly made, have marked features and but very little beard. In Lima they are chiefly handicraftsmen and traders. Most of the hawkers (Mercachifles) in Lima are Mestizos.

The Mulattos differ very widely from the Mestizos. In person they are less strongly made; but in intellect they are superior to any of the half-casts. They possess a very great aptitude for mechanical employments, great dexterity and a remarkable degree of imitative talent, which, if well directed, might be brilliantly developed. They are exceedingly impressionable, and all their feelings are readily exalted into passions. Indifferent to all out sensual enjoyments, they indulge in the fleeting pleasure of the present moment, and are regardless of the future. There is a certain class of Mulattos, who, in a psychological point of view, are very remarkable. They are distinguished by the nick-name of Palanganas.[28] They are gifted with wonderful memory, and after the lapse of years they will repeat, word for word, speeches or sermons which they have heard only once. With this extraordinary power of memory, they combine a fertile fancy, and a boundless share of self-confidence. Wherever there is anything to be seen or heard, the Palanganas never fail to attend, and they repeat with the most ludicrous attitudes and gestures all that they hear, be it a sermon in church, a speech in Congress, or an address delivered at any public solemnity.

The Mulattos now study theology; for, since the establishment of independence, the Indian law, which prohibited any person of mixed blood from entering the ecclesiastical state, is no longer observed. Many have devoted themselves to medicine; and most of the physicians in Lima are Mulattos; but they are remarkable only for their ignorance, as they receive neither theoretical nor clinical instruction. Nevertheless, they enjoy the full confidence of the public, who rank the ignorant native far above the educated foreigner. The business of a barber is one that is much followed by the Mulattos of Lima. In that occupation they are quite in their element, for they possess all the qualifications for which the members of that fraternity are distinguished in all parts of the world.

Among the Mulatto females many are remarkably beautiful—though they are always wanting in that oval form of the face which is the first condition of classic beauty. Their countenances are generally round and broad, their features strongly marked, and their expression impassioned. Their beauty soon fades; and as they advance in life the negro character of their features becomes distinctly defined. Their hair, which does not grow beyond a finger's length, is jet black and frizzy. They plait it very ingeniously in small tresses, frequently making more than a hundred. Their complexions vary from white to dark-brown; but most of them are dark brunettes, with large black eyes and pearl-white teeth.

Their vanity is quite equal to that of the Negresses, but it is combined with a certain degree of taste, in which the latter are wanting. The Mulatto women are passionately fond of music, singing and dancing. They play the guitar and have pleasing voices, but their singing is quite uninstructed.

The Zambos are the most miserable class of half-casts. With them every vice seems to have attained its utmost degree of development; and it may confidently be said that not one in a thousand is a useful member of society, or a good subject of the state. Four-fifths of the criminals in the city jail of Lima are Zambos. They commit the most hideous crimes with the utmost indifference, and their lawless propensities are continually bringing them into collision with the constituted authorities. In moral nature they are below the Negroes; for they are totally wanting in any good qualities possessed by the latter. Their figures are athletic, and their color black, sometimes slightly tinged with olive-brown. Their noses are much less flat than those of the Negroes, but their lips are quite as prominent. Their eyes are sunk and penetrating, and their hair very little longer than that of the Negroes, but curling in larger locks. The men have very little beard.

The Chinos are but little superior to the Zambos. Indeed, in physical formation they are inferior to them, for they are small and attenuated. Their countenances are hideously ugly. They have the Negro nose and mouth, and the Indian forehead, cheeks and eyes. Their hair is black, rough, but less frizzy than that of the Mulattos. They are deceitful, ill-tempered, and cruel. They never forget an offence, but brood over it till an opportunity, however distant, presents itself for wreaking their vengeance. They are very dangerous enemies.

Respecting the half-casts of fairer complexion, especially the Cuarterones and the Quinteros, there is but little to be said. Both physically and morally they approximate closely to the whites, among whom they almost rank themselves.

The majority of the foreigners in Lima, and indeed throughout the whole of Peru, are the families of the Spaniards from Europe, who emigrated to South America before the war of independence. Since the close of that struggle there has been but little emigration, as the circumstances of the country are not now very favorable to new settlers. The old Spanish families are for the most part landed proprietors or merchants. They are people of very temperate habits, but they are passionately fond of gaming, and in this respect they have bequeathed a dangerous inheritance to the Creoles. The pride and mercenary spirit which distinguished the Spaniards before the independence are now broken, if not entirely subdued. The intercourse between them and the natives, though still somewhat constrained, is every year becoming more and more friendly, as the privileges enjoyed by the Spaniards, which were a continued cause of hostile feeling, are now removed.

Next to the Spaniards, the most numerous class of foreigners are the Italians. These are chiefly Genoese, and the majority are run-away sailors and adventurers. They usually begin by setting up a Pulperia (a brandy shop), or a spice shop, and gradually extend their traffic until, in the course of a few years, they amass money enough to return to their native country. Some of them make good fortunes and possess extensive warehouses.

The French in Lima occupy the same positions as their countrymen in Valparaiso, viz., they are tailors and hair-dressers, dealers in jewellery and millinery.

The English and North Americans, who are much better liked by the natives than the French, are chiefly merchants. They are the heads of the principal commercial houses, as Gibbs, Grawley & Co., Alsop & Co., Templeman and Bergmann, Huth, Cruening & Co., &c. The enterprising spirit of the English and North Americans has led many of them into extensive mining speculations, which in some instances have proved very unfortunate.

The Germans in Lima are proportionally few. They are distinguished by their aptitude for business, and many of them fill high stations in the great English commercial houses. They are held in high esteem by the natives. The general gravity of their manners has given rise, among the Limenos, to the saying, "Serio como un Aleman"—Serious as a German.

Settlers from the other American republics have of late years considerably increased in Lima. After the Chilian expedition, many Chilenos established themselves in Peru, and numbers of Argentinos, escaping from the terrorism of Rosas in Buenos Ayres, have taken refuge in Lima.

Foreigners being in general more industrious and more steady than the Creoles, the Limenos readily form connexions with them. The ladies generally prefer marrying a Gringo[29] to a Paisanito.[30]

I may close this chapter on the inhabitants of Lima, with some remarks on the Spanish language as spoken in the capital of Peru. The old Spaniards, who brought their various dialects into the New World, retain them there unchanged. The Galician transposes the letters g and j; the Catalonian adds an s to the final syllables of words, and gives a peculiarly harsh sound to the letter j; the Andalusian rolls the r over his tongue, and imparts a melodious expression even to harsh-sounding words; the Biscayan mingles a variety of provincialisms with his own peculiar dialect. The Madrileno (native of Madrid) prides himself here, as well as in Europe, in being far superior to the rest of his countrymen in elegance of pronunciation. The Creoles, however, have gradually dropped the characteristic dialects of their progenitors, and have adopted new ones, varying one from another in the different South American provinces. The Spanish language, as spoken by the natives of Peru, differs widely from the correct and pure model of pronunciation. The inhabitants of the coast have too soft an accent, and they frequently confound, one with another, letters which have a mutual resemblance in sound. On the other hand, the people who dwell in the mountainous districts speak with a harsh accent, and very ungrammatically. As the Swiss force out their guttural tones from the lowest depth of their throats, and with the strongest possible aspiration, so do the Peruvians of the Cordillera. The inhabitants of the sand flats of North Germany, on the contrary, impart a ludicrously soft sound to the harsher consonants; and the same peculiarity is observable in the people who inhabit the coast of Peru.

Of all the inhabitants of Lima, the white Creoles speak the best Spanish; but still their language is far from pure. The ladies in particular have the habit of substituting one letter for another in certain words; for example, instead of pulso (pulse) they say purso, and instead of salsa (sauce) they say sarsa. In other words they substitute d for r, saying amod for amor, cavalledo for cavallero. The ll is frequently sounded by the Peruvians like y, a blunder which foreigners are also very apt to commit; for example, in the word pollo (chicken), which they pronounce as if it were spelled poyo, and gallina (hen) they pronounce as if spelled gayina. Not only do they confound single letters, but they frequently change whole syllables; as for instance, in the word pared (wall), which they transform into pader. The name of the well-known ex-President Orbegoso was, by two-thirds of the natives of Lima, pronounced as if written Obregoso. There is no word in the Spanish language beginning with an s followed by a consonant, and the Limenos, when they attempt to pronounce foreign words or proper names commencing in the manner just described, never fail to prefix to them the letter e. I know not whether in the schools and colleges of old Spain this method of prefixing the letter e is adopted in teaching Latin; but the practice is universal among the students of all the colleges in Lima. For studium they say estudium; for spurius, espurius; for sceleratus, esceleratus, &c.

To the Limenos the correct pronunciation of these words is extremely difficult, and many have assured me that they find it impossible to omit the e before the s. Still more arbitrary is their conversion of h into k in the words mihi, nihil, &c., which they pronounce miki, nikil.

The colored Creoles, who are generally uneducated, speak the Spanish language much more corruptly than the whites. The Negroes have a very bad accent. Their tongues seem quite unfitted for the pronunciation of the Spanish language, which many of them render unintelligible by transposing letters and lopping off syllables.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 13: Interpretations of the Indian Laws.]

[Footnote 14: His divine genius has produced eternal spring in Arequipa.]

[Footnote 15: "Guia del Peru." "Observaciones sobre el clima de Lima y sus influencias en los seres organizados en especial el hombre."]

[Footnote 16: The women of Lima clean their teeth several times a day with the root called Raiz de dientes (literally root for the teeth), of which they keep a piece constantly in their pocket.]

[Footnote 17: It is related that, during the war of independence, when Lima was alternately in possession of the Patriots and the Spaniards, a party of the latter, in order to ascertain the spirit of the Limenos, disguised themselves as Patriots and marched to the vicinity of the town. On their approach becoming known, a great number of persons proceeded from Callao to the Alameda to meet them. Among those who went forth to welcome the supposed patriots were a number of women dressed in the narrow sayas above described. When the disguised Spaniards had advanced within a little distance of the deceived multitude they began to attack them. The men saved themselves by flight; but the women, whose sayas impeded their motion, were unable to escape, and were almost all killed.]

[Footnote 18: A Tapada is a lady closely concealed beneath the folds of her veil or manto. The term is derived from the verb tapar, to cover or conceal. Taparse a media ojo, is said of a lady when she draws her manto over her face so as to leave only one eye or rather the half of an eye uncovered.—T.]

[Footnote 19: A preparation of finely-bruised maize mixed with morsels of pork. It is rolled in maize leaves, and in that manner served up.]

[Footnote 20: Sweet cakes made of maize and raisins.]

[Footnote 21: A syrup made from the pulp of fruit.]

[Footnote 22: Preserved peas with syrup.]

[Footnote 23: Literally Bigots.]

[Footnote 24: Meaning Yo esclavita! (I, a slave!) Esclavita being the diminutive of Esclava.]

[Footnote 25: Narrative of twenty years' residence in South America, by W. B. Stevenson.]

[Footnote 26: The term Creole is a corruption of the Spanish word criollo, which is derived from criar to create or to foster. The Spaniards apply the term criollo not merely to the human race, but also to animals propagated in the colonies, but of pure European blood: thus they have creole horses, bullocks, poultry, &c.]

[Footnote 27: A brutish Indian; a favorite expression of the Limenos when speaking of the Indians, who certainly do not merit the compliment.]

[Footnote 28: The word Palangana signifies a wash-hand-basin; but more especially the kind of basin used by barbers. Figuratively the term is used to designate an empty babbler.]

[Footnote 29: Gringo is a nickname applied to Europeans. It is probably derived from Griego (Greek). The Germans say of anything incomprehensible, "That sounds like Spanish,"—and in like manner the Spaniards say of anything they do not understand, "That is Greek."]

[Footnote 30: Paisanito is the diminutive of Paisano (Compatriot.)]



CHAPTER VI.

Primary Schools—Colleges—The University—Monks—Saints—Santo Toribio and Santa Rosa—Religious Processions—Raising the Host—The Noche Buena—The Carnival—Paseos, or Public Promenades—Ice—Riding and Driving—Horses—Their Equipments and Training—Mules—Lottery in Lima—Cookery—Breakfasts, Dinners, &c.—Coffee-houses and Restaurants—Markets—The Plazo Firme del Acho—Bull Fights.

Schools for primary instruction are numerous in Lima, and upon the whole they are tolerably well conducted. There are thirty-six of these primary schools, public and private; twenty for boys, and sixteen for girls; and altogether about 2000 pupils[31] receive in these establishments the first elements of juvenile instruction. The principal public institutions of this class are the Normal School of Santo Tomas (in which the Lancasterian system is adopted), and the Central School of San Lazaro. Each contains from 320 to 350 pupils. Of the private schools, some are very well conducted by Europeans. The College of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe was founded a few years ago by two Spanish merchants. In this establishment the sons of the wealthier class of people may receive a better education than they can obtain in the public schools. There are three Latin schools, and the number of pupils attending them amounts to about two hundred.

The College of Santo Toribio is exclusively appropriated to students of theology, who are likewise received into the College of San Carlos, though the latter is chiefly destined for the study of jurisprudence. San Carlos was founded in the year 1770 by the Viceroy Amat, who incorporated with it the previously existing Colleges of San Martin and San Felipe. In the year 1822 the Colegio de Esquilache was likewise united to San Carlos, which now contains about a hundred students. The building is large and commodious, containing spacious halls, a fine refectory, and a well-stored library. There are five professors of law and two of theology. French, English, geography, natural philosophy, mathematics, drawing, and music are likewise taught in this college. The annual revenue of the establishment, exclusively of the fees paid by the students, amounts to 19,000 dollars. During the war of emancipation, this establishment for a time bore the name of Colegio de San Martin, in honor of General San Martin, the liberator of Chile; but its original title was soon restored.

The Colegio de San Fernando was founded in 1810 by the Marques de la Concordia, for students of medicine. In the year 1826 this Institution received the name of Colegio de la Medecina de la Independencia, a title which it justly merits, for certainly medicine is taught there with a singular independence of all rules and systems. The Professors, who themselves have never received any regular instruction, communicate their scanty share of knowledge in a very imperfect manner to the students. The number of the students is between twelve and fifteen, and there are two Professors. The clinical lectures are delivered in the Hospital of San Andres, to which an anatomical amphitheatre was attached in 1792. The heat of the climate renders it necessary that burials should take place within twenty-four hours after death, a circumstance which naturally operates as an impediment to the fundamental study of anatomy. It cannot therefore be matter of surprise that the native surgeons should have but a superficial knowledge of that important branch of science.

In the University of San Marcos no lectures are delivered, and the twenty-five Professors' chairs are merely nominal. Honors and degrees are however conferred in San Marcos, and the same rules and ceremonies are observed as in the Spanish Universities. In the departments of medicine and jurisprudence there are three degrees; those of Bachelor, Licentiate, and Doctor. In former times the dignity of Doctor was conferred with great pomp and solemnity, and the public were admitted in large numbers to witness the ceremony. The acquisition of the degree of Doctor was then attended by an expense of about two thousand dollars, chiefly expended in presents. The new Doctor was required to send to every member of the University, from the Bachelors to the Rector, a new dollar, a goblet full of ice, and a dish of pastry.

Lima is overrun with monks, lay and conventual. The monastic regulations are not very strict, for the monks are permitted to leave the convents at all hours, according to their own pleasure. They avail themselves of this liberty to the utmost extent. Friars of various orders are seen in the streets in numbers. Most of them are fat Dominicans, who sit in the Portales playing at draughts, or lounge in shops staring at the Tapadas as they pass by. Many of these ecclesiastics are remarkable for their disregard of personal cleanliness; indeed it would be difficult to meet with a more slovenly, ignorant, and common-place class of men. They frequent all places of public entertainment, the coffee-houses, the chichereas, the bull-fights, and the theatres: these two last-mentioned places of amusement they visit in disguise. The Franciscans and the Mercenarias are little better than the Dominicans; but the Descalzados (barefooted friars) lead a somewhat more strict and regular life. To the monks of the Buena Muerte belongs the duty of administering the last consolation to the dying. Whenever they hear of any person who is dangerously ill, they hasten to the house without waiting till they are sent for, and they never leave the invalid until he either recovers or dies. Day and night they sit by the sick-bed, and scarcely allow themselves time for necessary rest and refreshment. I have known many of these monks who, from long experience and observation, but without any medical knowledge, had acquired wonderful shrewdness in determining the degree of danger in cases of illness, and who could foretel with almost unfailing certainty the moment of dissolution. As soon as the patient has breathed his last, the monk utters a short prayer, then giving the corpse a knock on the nose, he silently takes his departure. I have frequently witnessed this singular custom, but I never could discover its origin or motive. The habit worn by the monks of Buena Muerte is black, with a large red cross on the breast, and hats with high conical crowns.

Many pious natives, or inhabitants of Lima, have been admitted among the number of the saints. Of these the most distinguished was the Spaniard Toribio, who, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, filled the archiepiscopal chair in Lima. His kindness and charity have become proverbial, and his many acts of benevolence are still alive in the recollection of the people. Of many anecdotes that are related of him, I may here quote one. Late one night, the patrol who was on duty in the vicinity of the archbishop's palace, met a man in the street carrying a heavy load on his back. The challenge, "Who goes there?" was answered by the name "Toribio." The watch, uttering an oath, impatiently called out "Que Toribio?" (What Toribio?) "El de la esquina!" (He who dwells at the corner!) was the simple reply. The soldier angrily stepped up to his interlocutor, and, to his astonishment, recognized the archbishop, who was carrying a sick person to the hospital.

The saint to whom the Limenos render the highest honor, is Santa Rosa, the saint of the city. She was a native of Lima, and is the only Peruvian female who has attained the honor of being ranked among the saints. On the 30th of August, the festival of Santa Rosa is celebrated with great pomp in the cathedral, and her image, richly bedecked with gold and jewels, is carried in solemn procession from Santo Domingo to the Sagrario.

Religious processions are among the most favorite amusements of the inhabitants of Lima. They are always very numerously attended; and it may fairly be said that no merry-making would afford the Limenos so much diversion as they derive from these pious solemnities. Vast numbers of ladies join the processions as Tapadas, indulging in all sorts of coquettish airs, and with thoughts evidently bent on any subject but religion. The gentlemen station themselves in groups at the corners of the streets, to admire the graceful figures of the Tapadas, whose faces are concealed; and when the procession has passed one corner they rush to another, to see it defile a second time; and in this manner continue moving from place to place, as if they could never see enough of the interesting spectacle. The most brilliant processions are those which take place on the festivals of Corpus Christi, San Francisco, and Santo Domingo. A very solemn procession takes place on the 28th of October, the anniversary of the great earthquake of 1746.

Every morning, at a quarter to nine, the great bell of the cathedral announces the raising of the host, during the performance of high mass. Immediately every sound is hushed in the streets and squares. Coachmen stop the carriages, riders check their horses, and foot-passengers stand motionless. Every one suspends his occupation or his conversation, and kneeling down, with head uncovered, mutters a prayer. But scarcely has the third solemn stroke of the bell ceased to vibrate, when the noise and movement are resumed; the brief but solemn stillness of the few preceding moments being thus rendered the more impressive by contrast. The same incident is renewed in the evening, between six and seven o'clock, when the bell sounds for the Angelus (Oraciones). The cathedral bell gives the signal, by three slow, measured sounds, which are immediately repeated from the belfries of all the churches in Lima. Life and action are then, as if by an invisible hand, suddenly suspended; nothing moves but the lips of the pious, whispering their prayers. The Oracion being ended, every one makes the sign of the cross, and says to the person nearest him, Buenas noches (Good night). It is regarded as an act of courtesy to allow another to take precedence in saying "Good night," and if several persons are together, it is expected that the eldest or the most distinguished of the group should be the first to utter the greeting. It is considered polite to request the person next one to say Buenas noches; he with equal civility declines; and the alternate repetition of "diga Vm." (you say it), "No, Senor, diga Vm." (No, Sir, you say it), threatens sometimes to be endless.

The effect produced by the three strokes of the cathedral bell is truly astonishing. The half-uttered oath dies on the lips of the uncouth negro; the arm of the cruel Zambo, unmercifully beating his ass, drops as if paralyzed; the chattering mulatto seems as if suddenly struck dumb; the smart repartee of the lively Tapada is cut short in its delivery; the shopkeeper lays down his measure; the artizan drops his tool; and the monk suspends his move on the draught-board: all, with one accord, join in the inaudible prayer. Here and there the sight of a foreigner walking along indifferently, and without raising his hat, makes a painful impression on the minds of the people.

Christmas-night (Noche buena) is a great festival in Lima. The streets and squares, especially the Plaza Mayor, are crowded with people, amusing themselves in all sorts of ways. Hundreds of persons take their seats on the benches of the Plaza; there they regale themselves with sherbet, ices, and pastry, and look at the dancing of the negroes, &c. On this occasion the midnight mass is performed with extraordinary solemnity. On Christmas-day some of the families of Lima get up what are called Nacimientos, consisting of symbolical representations of the birth of the Saviour. On some of these shows considerable expense and ingenuity are bestowed.

In Carnival time Lima is so unpleasant a place of residence that many families retire to the country during that season of misrule. One of the favorite sports consists in sprinkling people with water; and from all the balconies various kinds of liquids are thrown on the passers-by. Groups of Negroes post themselves at the corners of the streets, where they seize people, and detain them prisoners, until they ransom themselves by the payment of a certain sum of money. Those who do not pay the money are rolled in the street gutters, and treated in the most merciless way; whilst those who purchase grace escape with having a few handfulls of dirty water thrown in their faces. Even in private houses, relations and intimate acquaintances are guilty of the most unwarrantable annoyances. Parties of young men enter the houses of families with whom they are acquainted, and begin sprinkling the ladies with scented water. That being exhausted, spring water, or even dirty water, is resorted to, so that what began in sport ends in reckless rudeness. The ladies, with their clothes dripping wet, are chased from room to room, and thereby become heated. The consequence is, in many instances, severe and dangerous illness. Inflammation of the lungs, ague, rheumatism, &c., are the usual results of these carnival sports, to which many fall victims. A year never passes in which several murders are not committed, in revenge for offences perpetrated during the saturnalia of the carnival.

A very favorite trick adopted in carnival time, for frightening people as they pass along the streets, is the following:—a sack, filled with fragments of broken glass and porcelain, is fastened to the balcony by a strong rope, of such a length that, when suspended from the window, the sack is about seven feet above the street. The apparatus being all ready, a mischievous negress and her amita (young mistress) watch the passers-by until they select one for their victim. The sack is then thrown over the front of the balcony, and a deafening crash ensues, though the rope prevents its contents from hurting any one. It is well known that in almost every street in Lima there is at least one balcony ready prepared for the performance of this trick; yet the suddenness of the crash always proves a shock, even to the strongest nerves. People start and run to one side of the street, and are sometimes so terrified that they drop down; then loud laughter and jeering remarks are heard in the balcony. Every year this trick is prohibited by the police, but the prohibition is treated with contempt.

One of the most popular recreations of the Limenos, especially of the people of color, is the Paseo de Amancaes, which takes place on St. John's Day. The Amancaes is a gently sloping plain, about half a mile north-west of Lima, and it is bounded by a semicircular range of hills, which rise from twelve to fifteen thousand feet above the level of the sea. During the hot months of the year this plain is a parched and barren waste; but when the misty and rainy season sets in, the Amancaes is covered with numerous flowers, among which a beautiful yellow lily is conspicuous. About the end of June this lily is in full bloom. On St. John's Day booths and stalls are fitted up for the sale of various kinds of refreshments, and throngs of people of all classes and colors are seen riding or walking in the direction of the Amancaes. There they amuse themselves with dancing, playing, eating, drinking, and gathering flowers; and in the evening they return to Lima. It is amusing to see the Mulattas and Zambas with bouquets of yellow lilies stuck in their heads and bosoms. These women crowd into heavily-laden vehicles, beside which their black cavaliers ride on horseback—all laughing, jesting, and giving vent to unrestrained mirth. From the 24th of June to the end of October, pleasure parties repair on Sundays and festival days, either to the Amancaes or to the Lomas. The latter is a range of hills a little further from Lima.

There is no want of promenades in the vicinity of the city. Leading from the Callao gate is the fine long avenue of trees I have already mentioned. In the suburb of San Lazaro there is a fine broad promenade planted with trees, called the alameda vieja, at the end of which is situated the Convent of the Descalzos. Along the bank of the Rimac there is a new promenade planted with four rows of trees, called the alameda nueva. Behind it the Paseo militar, with two rows of trees, extending as far as Piedra lisa, on the road to the pleasant village of Lurigancho. On the right of these promenades is the river, on the left the pyramidal hill, of the Cerro de San Cristoval. At the extremity of the Alameda nueva are the Puquio.[32] These baths are within a long low-roofed building, covered on the top with straw mats.

On summer evenings the bridge and the Plaza Mayor are visited by throngs of promenaders who there enjoy the refreshing breeze, which, after sunset, is wafted from the Cordilleras, along the surface of the Rimac. After the hour of the Oraciones (evening prayers), the bridge is crowded with gentlemen, who walk up and down whilst the ladies sit in the rotundas built above each of the piers. Long rows of promenaders are seen moving to and fro, either going to the Alamedas, or returning from thence to the Plaza, to obtain refreshments. Before the Portal de los Escribanos, on the Plaza Mayor, tables are laid out with lemonade, almond milk and ices. The promenaders sit down on benches, which are placed round these tables, and partake of refreshments, none of which, however, are so delicious as the cool breeze after the sultry heat of the day.

To the inhabitants of Lima, ice is one of the necessaries of life: it is considered so indispensable, that a scarcity of it, during several days, would be sufficient to excite popular ferment. In all revolutions, therefore, the leaders carefully avoid calling into requisition the service of the mules employed in the transport of ice. It is obtained in the Cordilleras, at the distance of about twenty-eight leagues from Lima. The Indians who ascend the glaciers break the ice into blocks of about six arobas in weight, which are lowered by ropes down the declivity of the mountain. The women and children then cover the blocks of ice with Ichu grass (Joara ichu, R. P.), after which they are drawn by another party of Indians to a depot, about two leagues distant, where they are packed on the backs of mules. Each mule carries two blocks. Thirty mules form what is called a Recua, which daily proceeds from the ice depot to Lima. At intervals of two or three miles there are stations where relays of mules are in readiness. The operations of unloading and reloading are performed with the utmost possible speed, and the mules are driven at a brisk trot, wherever the roads will admit of it. In the space of eighteen or twenty hours, the ice reaches Lima, and as may be expected, considerably reduced in weight by melting. The average loss on two blocks of ice is about one hundred pounds.[33] The daily consumption of ice in Lima is between fifty and fifty-five cwt. About two-thirds of that quantity is used for preparing ices, most of which are made of milk or pine-apple juice. Ice is hawked about the streets of Lima for sale, and all day long Indians, carrying pails on their heads, perambulate the streets, crying helado.

The ladies of Lima, when they make visits, seldom go on foot. They generally ride in the caleza, a very ugly kind of vehicle, being nothing more than a square box raised on two high wheels, and drawn by a mule, on whose back a negro in livery is mounted. Many of the older calezas, instead of being painted on the outside, are covered with variegated paper. The calezin is a prettier kind of carriage, and is drawn by two horses or mules. Taste in the article of carriages is, however, improving in Lima, and several very elegant ones have been recently introduced.

Within the last few years a regular line of omnibuses has been established between Callao and Lima. From each of those cities an omnibus starts daily, at eight in the morning and at four in the afternoon, and the journey occupies an hour and a half. To Miraflores, Chorillos, Lurin, and other places on the coast, the conveyance is by a balanzin, a sort of caleza, drawn by three horses harnessed abreast. This balanzin is one of the most awkward vehicles ever invented, and the slightest shock it sustains is felt with double force by the persons riding in it. At greater distances from the capital, the want of proper roads renders the employment of vehicles a matter of difficulty. Even along the coast to the south of Lima, a journey of about forty leagues cannot be accomplished without vast difficulty and expense. On such a journey it is usual for a train of sixty or eighty horses to accompany the carriage; and it is found necessary to change the horses every half-hour, owing to the difficulty of drawing the carriage through the fine quicksand, which is often more than a foot deep. A Peruvian planter, who was accustomed to take his wife every year on a visit to his plantation, situated about thirty-two leagues from Lima, assured me that the journey to and fro always cost him 1400 dollars.

During the brilliant period of the Spanish domination, incredible sums were frequently expended on carriages and mules. Not unfrequently the tires of the caleza wheels and the shoes of the mules were of silver instead of iron.

In Peru, riding is a universal custom, and almost every person keeps one or more horses. The ladies of Lima are distinguished as graceful horsewomen. Their equestrian costume consists of a white riding-habit, trowsers richly trimmed with lace, a fine white poncho, and a broad-brimmed straw hat. Some of the females of the colored races make use of men's saddles, and display great skill in the management of the most unruly horses.

The horse-trappings used in Peru are often very costly. On the coast and in the interior, I have sometimes seen head-gear, bridle, and crupper, composed of finely-wrought silver rings, linked one into another. The saddle is frequently ornamented with rich gold embroidery, and the holster inlaid with gold. The stirrups are usually the richest portion of the trappings. They are made of carved wood, and are of pyramidal shape; about a foot high and a foot broad at the base. In front and at the sides they are close, and are open only at the back in the part where the foot rests. The edges are rimmed with silver, and the top of the stirrup is surmounted by a bell of the same metal, with a ring through which the straps are passed. A priest with whom I was acquainted in the Sierra, got a saddle and a pair of stirrups made for me. The silver ornaments on the stirrups alone weighed forty pounds. The decorations of the saddle were of corresponding richness. The value of the silver on both saddle and stirrups was about 1500 dollars. The spurs used in Peru are of colossal magnitude. Old custom ordains that they must contain three marks (a pound and a half) of silver. The stirrup-bow is broad and richly wrought; the ornaments being either of the pattern called hueso de tollo,[34] or of that styled hoja de laurel con semilla.[35] The rowel is one and a half or two inches in diameter, and the points are about twenty-five or thirty inches long.

In the bridle, the bit and the snaffle are in one piece, and the reins are brought together by being passed through a ring, to which the long riding-whip is also fastened. The head-band and reins are commonly composed of narrow slips of untanned calf or sheep-skin, plaited together, and ornamented with silver buckles. The saddle is short and narrow, and exceedingly awkward to riders unaccustomed to it. The front bolster is four or five inches high, and inclines backward; the hind one is lower, and is curved forward in the form of a half-moon; the intervening space just affording sufficient room for the thighs of the rider, who, in a saddle of this construction, is so firmly fixed that he cannot possibly fall. These saddles have, however, one great disadvantage, viz., that if the horse starts off at a gallop, and the rider has not time to throw himself back in his seat, he is forced against the front saddle-bolster with such violence that some fatal injury is usually the consequence. Under the saddle is laid a horse-cloth, called the pellon, about a yard long, and a yard and a half wide. The common sort of pellones are composed of two rough sheep-skins, sewed together. In the finer kind, the raw wool is combed out, and divided into numberless little twists, of about the length of one's finger; so that the pellon resembles the skin of some long-haired animal. The finest Peruvian pellones are made of a mixture of sheep's wool and goat's hair. Between the saddle and the pellon are fastened the saddle-bags (alforjas), which, on long journeys, are filled with provisions and other necessaries. These bags are made either of leather or strong woollen cloth; finally, the trappings of a Peruvian horse are not complete without the halter (haquima), which is ornamented in the same manner as the bridle. The halter-strap (cabresto) is wound round the front bolster of the saddle, and by it the horse may be fastened whenever the rider alights, without the use of the reins for that purpose. At first a foreigner is apt to regard the equipments of a Peruvian horse as superfluous and burthensome; but he is soon convinced of their utility, and, when the eye becomes familiar to them, they have a pleasing effect.

The pure-bred Peruvian horse is more elegantly formed than his Andalusian progenitor. He is of middling size, seldom exceeding fourteen hands high. He has a strong expanded chest, slender legs, thin pasterns, a short muscular neck, a rather large head, small pointed ears, and a fiery eye. He is spirited, docile, and enduring. It is only in a few plantations that the purity of the race is preserved, and the animals fostered with due care. The common horse is higher, leaner, less broad on the chest, and with the crupper thinner and more depressed. He is, however, not less fiery and capable of endurance than the horse of pure breed. The most inferior horses are ill-looking, small, and rough-skinned.

On the coast of Peru the horses are for the most part natural amblers, and, if they do not amble naturally, they are taught to do so. There are several varieties of amble peculiar to the Peruvian horse; the most approved is that called the paso llano. It is very rapid, but not attended by any jolting motion to the rider. A well-trained horse may safely be ridden by a young child at the paso llano; the motion being so gentle and regular, that the rider may carry a cup of water in his hand without spilling a drop, at the same time going at the rate of two leagues an hour. Another variety of ambling is called the paso portante. It consists in the fore and hind foot of one side being raised simultaneously, and thrust forward. In this movement, the greater or less speed depends on the degree in which the hind foot is advanced in comparison with the fore one. It is a rapid, rocking sort of motion, and for long continuance is much more wearying to the rider than the common trot, as the body cannot be held upright, but must be kept in a constant stooping position. The speed of a good ambler in the paso portante is so great, that he will outstrip another horse at full gallop. The giraffe, as well as the Peruvian horse, has this peculiar movement naturally. The paso companero is merely a nominal modification of the paso portante. Many horses have no paso llano, but in its stead a short trot. These have naturally the paso portante, but they are little esteemed for travelling, though they are good working animals. They are called cavallos aguelillos. Trotting horses cannot be taught the paso llano, though they easily acquire the paso portante. These are called cavallos trabados.

In Peru a horse is valued less for beauty of form than for the perfection of his amble. The finest trotters are sold at very low prices, and are used exclusively as carriage horses. If a horse when spurred has the habit of flapping his tail, it is considered a serious fault, and greatly depreciates the value of the animal. This vice is called mosquear (literally brushing off the mosquitoes), and the Peruvians cure it by an incision in the muscle of the tail, by which means the horse is disabled from making the movement.

The Peruvians take very little care of their horses. The remark, that the more the horse is tended, the worse he is, would seem to be a generally admitted truth in Peru. The stable (coral) is either totally roofless, or very indifferently sheltered. In the mountainous parts of the country, and during the rainy season, horses are frequently, for the space of six months, up to their knees in mud, and yet they never seem to be the worse for it. The fodder consists of lucern (alfalfa), or maisillo, which is usually thrown down on the ground, though sometimes placed in a stone trough, and the drink of the animals consists of impure water collected from the ditches at the road sides. Occasionally the horses are fed with maize, which they are very fond of. As no oats are grown in Peru, barley is given together with maize, especially in the interior of the country. Mares and geldings have sometimes the hair between the ears cut off quite closely, and the mane arranged in short curls, which gives them a resemblance to the horses in ancient sculpture. Mares are but little valued, so little indeed, that no respectable person will ride one.

The horse-breakers (chalanes) are generally free men of color. They possess great bodily vigor, and understand their business thoroughly; but they use the horses very cruelly, and thereby render them shy. For the first three years foals are suffered to roam about with perfect freedom; after that time they are saddled, an operation not performed without great difficulty, and sometimes found to be impracticable, until the animal is thrown on the ground and his limbs tied. The young horse under the management of the chalan is trained in all sorts of equestrian feats, especially the art of pirouetting (voltear). This consists in turning either wholly or half round on the hind legs with great rapidity and when at full gallop. Another important object of the chalan is to teach the horse to stop short suddenly, and to stand perfectly motionless (sentarse) at the signal of his rider; and to go backward (cejar) for a considerable space in a straight line. When all this is accomplished, the horse is regarded as completely broken (quebrantado).

As an instance of the certainty with which a Peruvian horse will make a pirouette (voltata) at the signal of his rider, I may mention the following fact, which occurred under my own observation. A friend of mine, in Lima, rode at full gallop up to the city wall (which is scarcely nine feet broad), leaped upon it, and then made his horse perform a complete voltata, so that the fore-feet of the animal described the segment of a circle beyond the edge of the wall. The feat he performed several times in succession, and he assured me he could do the same with all his horses.

Peruvian taste requires that the neck of the horse should present a finely-curved outline, and that the mouth should be drawn inward, so as to approach the breast. The horses called Cavallos de Brazo are much esteemed. At every step they describe a large circle with their fore-feet, in such a manner that the horse-shoe strikes the lower part of the stirrup. This motion is exceedingly beautiful when combined with what is termed the "Spanish pace," in which the noble form of the animal and his proud bearing are advantageously displayed.

The mule is a very important animal in Peru. The badness of the roads would render commercial communication impracticable, were it not for mules. The Peruvian mules are fine, strong animals. The best are reared in Piura, and sent to Lima for sale. The amblers are selected for the saddle, the trotters for harness, and the rest are used as beasts of burthen. The price of a mule of middling quality is one hundred dollars; a better one double or treble that price; and the very best may even cost ten times as much. The endurance of these animals under fatigue and indifferent nurture is extraordinary, and without them the vast sand plains of Peru would present insuperable obstacles to intercourse between one place and another. In the power of continuous ambling they exceed the horses, and are often equal to them in speed.

In Lima there is a public lottery, which the Government farms to a private individual, for a considerable sum. The tickets are drawn weekly. The price of a ticket is one real. The largest prize is 1000 dollars; the smaller prizes 500, 250, or 100 dollars. A lottery on a larger scale is drawn every three months. The highest prize in this lottery is 4000 dollars, and the price of the ticket is four reals. To every ticket is affixed a motto, usually consisting of an invocation to a saint, and a prayer for good luck, and at the drawing of the lottery this motto is read aloud when the number of the ticket is announced. Few of the inhabitants of Lima fail to buy at least one ticket in the weekly lottery. The negroes are particularly fond of trying their luck in this way, and in many instances fortune has been singularly kind to them.

"Eating and drinking keep soul and body together." So says the German proverb; and it may not be uninteresting to take a glance at the Limenos during their performance of these two important operations. The hour of breakfast is generally nine in the morning. The meal consists of boiled mutton (Sancochado), soup (Caldo), with yuccas, a very pleasant-tasted root, and Chupe. This last-mentioned dish consists, in its simplest form, merely of potatoes boiled in very salt water, with cheese and Spanish pepper. When the chupe is made in better style, eggs, crabs, and fried fish are added to the ingredients already named; and it is then a very savory dish. Chocolate and milk are afterwards served. A negress brings the Chocolatera into the breakfast-room, and pours out a cup full for each person. The natives prefer the froth to the actual beverage; and many of the negresses are such adepts in the art of pouring out, that they will make the cup so overflow with foam, that it contains scarcely a spoonful of liquid. Chocolate is the favorite beverage of the Peruvians. In the southern parts of the country it is customary to offer it to visitors at all hours of the day. The visitor is no sooner seated than he is presented with a cup of coffee, which is often so thick that the spoon will stand upright in it. It would be a breach of politeness to decline this refreshment, and whether agreeable or not it must be swallowed!

The best cocoa is obtained from the Montanas of Urubamba, and from the Bolivian Yungas. The long land transport, however, renders it very dear, and therefore the nuts brought from Guayaquil are those commonly used in Lima.

Dinner, which takes place about two or three in the afternoon, commences with a very insipid kind of soup. This is followed by the Puchero, which is the principal dish. Puchero, made in its best style, contains beef, pork, bacon, ham, sausage, poultry, cabbage, yuccas, camotes (a sort of sweet potato), potatoes, rice, peas, choclitas (grains of maize), quince and banana. When served up, the different kinds of meat are placed in one dish, and the vegetable ingredients in another. I was at first astonished at the poorness of the soups in Lima, considering the quantity of meat used in preparing them; but I soon discovered that the soup served up to table was little more than water, and that the strong gravy of the meat was either thrown away or given to the negroes. There prevails an almost universal belief that the liquor in which the meat is first stewed is injurious to health. Only a very few families are sufficiently free from this prejudice to allow the strong gravy to be used in the preparation of caldo, &c. The Puchero is an excellent and nutritious dish, and would in itself suffice for a dinner, to which, however, in Lima, it is merely the introduction. Roast meat, fish, vegetables, preserves and salad are afterwards served. Another dish not less indispensable to a Lima dinner than puchero, is picante. Under this denomination are included a variety of preparations, in which a vast quantity of cayenne pepper is introduced. The most favorite picantes are the calapulcra, the lagua, the zango, the charquican, the adobas, the picante de ullucos, &c. The calapulcra is composed of meat and potatoes dried and finely pounded; the lagua is made of maize flour and pork; the zango, of the same ingredients, but differently prepared; the adobas consists of pork alone; and the picante de ullucos is made of a root resembling the potato, cut into small square bits. These dishes, though much too highly seasoned for European palates, are considered great dainties by the Limenos. All the picantes have a very red color, owing to the quantity of cayenne used in preparing them; the achote grains, which are also used, produce a beautiful vermilion tint. Another dish, common on the dinner-table in Lima, is called ensalada de frutas. It is a most heterogeneous compound, consisting of all sorts of fruits stewed in water. To none but a Limanian stomach could such a mixture be agreeable. The dessert consists of fruits and sweets (dulces). The Limeno must always drink a glass of water after dinner, otherwise he imagines the repast can do him no good; but to warrant the drinking of the water, or, as the phrase is, para tomar agua, it is necessary first to partake of dulces. The one without the other would be quite contrary to rule. The dulces consist of little cakes made of honey or of the pulp of the sugar-cane; or they are preserved fruits, viz., pine-apple, quince, citron, and sometimes preserved beans or cocoa-nut. There is also a favorite kind of dulce made from maize, called masamora.

The Peruvians have some very singular prejudices on the subject of eating and drinking. Every article of food is, according to their notions, either heating (caliente), or cooling (frio); and they believe that certain things are in opposition one to another, or, as the Limenos phrase it, se oponen. The presence in the stomach of two of these opposing articles of food, for example, chocolate and rice, is believed to be highly dangerous, and sometimes fatal. It is amusing to observe the Limenos when at dinner, seriously reflecting, before they taste a particular dish, whether it is in opposition to something they have already eaten. If they eat rice at dinner, they refrain from drinking water, because the two things se oponen. To such an extreme is this notion carried, that they will not taste rice on days when they have to wash, and laundresses never eat it. Frequently have I been asked by invalids whether it would be safe for them to take a foot-bath on going to bed, as they had eaten rice at dinner!

The white Creoles, as well as all the superior class of people in Lima, are exceedingly temperate in drinking. Water and a kind of sweet wine are their favorite beverage; but the lower classes and the people of color are by no means so abstemious. They make free use of fermented drinks, especially brandy, chicha, and guarapo. The brandy of Peru is very pure, and is prepared exclusively from the grape. On the warm sea coast, the use of this liquor is not very injurious; there, its evil effects are counteracted by profuse perspiration. But one half the quantity that may be drunk with impunity on the coast, will be very pernicious in the cool mountainous regions. An old and very just maxim of the Jesuits is, "En pais caliente, aguardiente; en pais frio, agua fria" (in the warm country, brandy; in the cold country, water).

Guarapo is a fermented liquor, made of sugar-cane pulp and water. It is a very favorite beverage of the negroes. There are several kinds of guarapo. The best sorts are tolerably agreeable. Chicha is a sort of beer prepared from maize. The seeds of the maize are watered and left until they begin to sprout, after which they are dried in the sun. When sufficiently dry they are crushed, boiled in water, and then allowed to stand till fermentation takes place. The liquid is of a dark yellow color, and has a slightly bitter and sharp taste. Chicha is likewise made from rice, peas, barley, yuccas, pine-apples, and even bread. The kind most generally used is that made from maize. Even before the Spanish conquest of Peru, this maize beer was the common beverage of the Indians. In Lima there are some very dirty and ill-arranged restaurations, styled picanterias. These places are divided by partitions into several small compartments, each of which contains a table and two benches. The restaurateur, usually a zambo or a mulatto, prides himself in the superiority of his picantes and his clicha. The most motley assemblages frequent these places in the evening. The Congo negro, the grave Spaniard, the white Creole, the Chino, together with monks and soldiers, may be seen, all grouped together, and devouring with evident relish refreshments, served out in a way not remarkable for cleanliness. Brandy and guarapo are likewise sold in shops which are to be met with at the corner of almost every street. The coffee-houses are very inferior; most of them are very dirty, and the attendance is wretched.

Every street in Lima contains one or more cigar shops, in which mestizos and mulattos are busily employed in making cigars. Smoking is a universal custom, and is practised everywhere except in the churches. The cigars used in Lima are short, and the tobacco is rolled in paper, or in dried maize leaves. The tobacco is brought from the northern province, Jaen de Bracamoras, in very hard rolls called masos, about a yard long and two inches thick. Another kind of cigars is made of Peruvian or Columbian tobacco. They are scarcely inferior to the Havannah cigars, and would be quite equal to them, if they were kept long enough and well dried: but in Lima they are smoked within a few hours after being made. When any one wants to light his cigar in the street, he accosts the first smoker he happens to meet, whatever be his color, rank, or condition; and asks him for a light. The slave smokes in the presence of his master, and when his cigar dies out, he unceremoniously asks leave to relight it at his master's. It has been calculated that the daily cost of the cigars smoked in Lima and the immediate vicinity amounts to 2,300 dollars.

Formerly the market was held on the Plaza Mayor, and was always abundantly supplied with vegetables, fruit, and flowers. Now it is held in the Plazuela de la Inquisicion, and it is very inferior to what it used to be. Along the sides of the Plaza are stalls kept by women, who sell sausages and fish. The central part of the market is appropriated to the sale of vegetables, of which there is always an excellent supply. Facing the Palace of the Inquisition are the butchers' shops. The meat is good, though not very plentifully displayed. The most abundant kinds of meat are mutton and beef. The slaughtering of young animals being strictly prohibited by law, veal, lamb, and sucking pigs are never seen in the market. The daily consumption of butcher's meat in Lima is about twenty-eight or thirty heads of horned cattle, and between one hundred and sixty and two hundred sheep. Pork, neither fresh nor cured, is seen in the market; though great numbers of swine are slaughtered. The fleshy parts of the animal are cut into small square pieces, and boiled; the fat or lard is used in cookery, and the pieces of pork, which are spread over with lard, are called chicharones, and are held in high esteem by Limanian epicures. There is an abundant show of poultry in the market, especially fowls and turkeys, which are brought from Huacho. Game is never sold, and but very little is obtained in the neighborhood of Lima. The flower market, which is held on the Plaza Mayor, is but sparingly supplied with the gifts of Flora. The ladies of Lima recal pleasing recollections of the former glory of their flower market, and speak with regret of its present degenerate condition. The much-vaunted pucheros de flores are still occasionally displayed for sale. They are composed of a union of fragrant fruits and flowers. Several small fruits are laid on a banana leaf, and above them are placed odoriferous flowers, tastefully arranged according to their colors: the whole is surmounted with a strawberry, and is profusely sprinkled with agua rica, or lavender water. These pucheros are very pleasing to the eye, on account of the tasteful arrangement of the flowers; but their powerful fragrance affects the nerves. They vary in price, according to the rarity of the fruits and flowers of which they are composed. Some cost as much as six or eight dollars. A puchero de flores is one of the most acceptable presents that can be offered to a Lima lady.

A mingled feeling of disgust and surprise takes possession of the European who witnesses the joy which pervades all classes of the inhabitants of Lima on the announcement of a bull-fight. For several days the event is the exclusive topic of conversation, and, strange to say, the female portion of the population takes greater interest in it than the men. Bills notifying the approaching entertainment are stuck up at the corners of the streets; and every one is anxious to obtain a lista de los toros. When the season of the toros[36] commences, a bull-fight takes place every Monday, and then the whole city of Lima is thrown into a state of indescribable excitement. The ladies prepare their finest dresses for the occasion, and they consider it the greatest possible misfortune if anything occurs to prevent them going to the bull-fight: indeed, a Monday passed at home in the season of the toros would be regarded as a lost day in the life of a Limena. Those who cannot go to the corrida, resort to the bridge, or to the Alameda, where they sit and amuse themselves by looking at the throngs of people passing and repassing.

In the time of the Viceroys, bull-fights frequently took place on the Plaza Mayor. Now there is a place expressly built for these entertainments, called the Plaza firme del Acho. It is a spacious amphitheatre without a roof, and is erected at the end of the new avenue of the Alameda. The preparations for the sport commence at an early hour in the morning. Along the Alameda are placed rows of tables covered with refreshments, consisting of lemonade, brandy, chicha, picantes, fish, dulces, &c. About twelve o'clock, those who have engaged places in the amphitheatre begin to move towards the Plaza del Acho.

Most European ladies would turn with horror, even from a description of these cruel sports, which the ladies of Lima gaze on with delight. They are barbarous diversions, and though they form a part of national customs, they are nevertheless a national disgrace. At the same time it would be unjust to make this love of bull-fighting a ground for unqualified censure on the Limenos, or a reason for accusing them of an utter want of humanity. Being accustomed to these diversions from early childhood, they regard them with perfect indifference; and custom, no doubt, blinds them to the cruelties they witness in the bull-ring. The same extenuation may be urged in behalf of the women: and though to most of the Limenas a bull-fight affords the highest possible gratification, yet there are some who form honorable exceptions to this remark, and who, with true feminine feeling, shrink with horror from such scenes.

Peru is the only one of the South American states in which bull-fights are included in the category of public amusements. As Peru was the last to answer the cry of independence, and to shake off the yoke of Spanish domination, so she adheres with most tenacity to the customs of the mother country; for she has not the energy requisite for developing a nationality of her own. Even here is apparent that want of independence of character for which the Peruvians are remarkable. The faults of the Spaniards in them become vices, because, in imitating without reflecting, they push everything to an extreme. Thus, if bull-fights are cruel in Spain, they are barbarous in Lima. The government, too, finds it expedient to court popularity by favoring public entertainments, among which bull-fights take the lead. By allowing the people to indulge unrestrainedly in all their favorite amusements, the government gains a two-fold object, viz., that of securing the support, if not the love of the people, and of averting public attention from political affairs. These, it must be confessed, are important objects in a country which, like Peru, is continually disturbed by revolutions caused by the outbreaks of a turbulent populace, or an undisciplined army.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 31: A very small number in a population of 55,000.]

[Footnote 32: Puquio in the Quichua language signifies springs.]

[Footnote 33: These fine blocks of ice clearly refute the assertion made by some travellers, that the first real glaciers are found in 19 deg. S. lat. The extensive fields of ice from which the blocks in question are brought are situated in 11 deg. 14' S. lat.]

[Footnote 34: A sort of arabesque resembling the backbone of a fish called the Tollo.]

[Footnote 35: Laurel leaves and seed.]

[Footnote 36: Toros (Bulls) is used by way of contraction for Corrida de Toros (Bull Course).]



CHAPTER VII.

Geographical Situation of Lima—Height above Sea level—Temperature—Diseases—Statistical Tables of Births and Deaths—Earthquakes—The Valley of Lima—The River Rimac—Aqueducts, Trenches, &c.—Irrigation—Plantations—Cotton—Sugar—Various kinds of Grain—Maize—Potatoes, and other tuberous roots—Pulse—Cabbage—Plants used for Seasoning—Clover—The Olive and other Oil Trees—Fruits—Figs and Grapes—The Chirimoya—The Palta—The Banana and other Fruits.

Lima, according to the careful observations made by Herr Scholtz, is situated in 12 deg. 3' 24'' south latitude, and 77 deg. 8' 30'' west longitude from Greenwich. It may, however, be mentioned that the longitude from Greenwich is very differently stated. In sea charts and Manuals of Geography it is often marked 76 deg. 50'. Humboldt makes it 77 deg. 5' 5''; and Malaspina 77 deg. 6' 45''. According to Ulloa it is 70 deg. 37' west of Cadiz. The latitude is very generally fixed at 12 deg. 2' 3'' south. The height above the level of the sea is also differently estimated. Rivero, in the Memorial de Ciencias Naturales, I., 2, page 112, states it to be 154 metres, or 462 French feet. On another occasion he makes it 184-4/5 Castilian varas (each vara being equal to 33 inches English). He gives the following account of heights, according to the barometer, between Callao and Lima, in varas, viz., Callao, 00; Baquijano, 24-3/5; La Legua, 50-2/5; Mirones, 94-3/20; Portada del Callao, 150; Plaza de Lima, 184-4/5.

The first estimate given by Rivero is the most correct. Gay makes the height of Lima, at the corner of the church of Espiritu Santo, 172.2 Castilian varas; but most of his heights are incorrectly stated.

The conical hill in the north-east of Lima, called Cerro de San Cristoval, is, according to trigonometrical measurements, made in 1737, by Don Jorge Juon, and De la Condamines, 312 varas higher than the Plaza Mayor, or 134 toises above the sea; but one of the most exact measurements is Pentland's, who found the height to be 1275 English feet.

The average temperature during the hottest period of the year, from December to March, is 25 deg. C. The medium temperature during the cold season, from April to November, 17.5 deg. C. Highest rise of the hygrometer, 21.5 deg..

The low temperature of Lima at the distance of only twelve degrees from the Equator is to be ascribed to the situation of the town, and the prevailing atmospheric currents. The Cordilleras, rising at the distance of only twenty-eight Spanish leagues east of the city, are crowned with eternal snow; and on the west the sea is distant only two leagues. The prevailing wind blows from the south-south-west. West winds are not very common, though they sometimes blow with extraordinary violence for those regions, and breaking on the surrounding mountains, they form atmospheric whirlwinds, which diffuse alarm through the whole population. In June, 1841, I had the opportunity of observing one of these dreadful whirlwinds, which swept away huts, and tore up trees by the roots. The atmospheric currents from the north, which pass over the hot sand-flats, are not of constant occurrence, but they are oppressively sultry. There must be other causes for the low temperature of Lima, for in the villages, only a few miles from the city, and exposed to the same atmospheric influences, it is much higher.

Miraflores is a small place, about one Spanish league and a half from Lima, but it is much hotter. Among the records of the thermometer are the following:—

December 20 to 27, maximum 31.8 deg. C.; minimum, 25.9 deg. C.

December 28, at 6 in the morning, 26.0 deg. C.; at 2 P.M., 32.7 deg. C.; at 10 at night, 27.3 deg. C.

January 1, at 2 P.M., 33.1 deg. C., maximum of the day.

January 18, at 2 P.M., maximum 34.2 deg. C.

A comparison with the temperature of Lima, on the same days, gives an average of 5.7 deg. C. of heat in favor of Miraflores.

The River Rimac, which rises among the glaciers of the Cordilleras, and after a course of no great length, intersects the city, doubtless contributes to cool the atmosphere.

The climate of Lima is agreeable, but not very healthy. During six months, from April to October, a heavy, damp, but not cold mist, overhangs the city. The summer is always hot, but not oppressive. The transition from one season to another is gradual, and almost imperceptible. In October and November the misty canopy begins to rise; it becomes thinner, and yields to the penetrating rays of the sun. In April the horizon begins to resume the misty veil. The mornings are cool and overcast, but the middle of the day is clear. In a few weeks after, the brightness of noon also disappears. The great humidity gives rise to many diseases, particularly fevers, and the alternations from heat to damp cause dysentery. On an average, the victims to this disease are very numerous. It is endemic, and becomes, at apparently regular but distant periods, epidemic. The intermittent fevers or agues, called tercianos, are throughout the whole of Peru very dangerous, both during their course and in their consequences. It may be regarded as certain that two-thirds of the people of Lima are suffering at all times from tercianos, or from the consequences of the disease. It usually attacks foreigners, not immediately on their arrival in Lima, but some years afterwards. In general the tribute of acclimation is not so soon paid by emigrants in Lima as in other tropical regions.