1839.] PERUVIAN LADIES. 129 



liness, in private dwellings, except in the sella and cutidro, 

 the more public apartments. More yegard for personal neat- 

 ness, however, is exhibited. The Limena cleans her teeth 

 several times a day, with the raiz de dientes (root for the 

 teeth) ; considerable time is spent at the toilet ; and perfum- 

 ery is lavishly used. The climate naturally produces indo- 

 lence ; and, while at home, she is fond of reclining on a sofa, 

 or swinging in a hammock, and, at the same time, enjoying a 

 plate of sweetmeats, or smoking a cigar. Visiting, promen- 

 ading, the theatre, the ball, and the concert, occupy the rest 

 of her time. When she has passed the prime of life, and 

 her beauty begins to fade, the missal takes the place of 

 the mirror, and she devotes herself to works of piety and 

 charity. 



Travellers in Spain have often remarked upon the fondness 

 of the people for scriptural names. This custom is carried 

 to a greater extent even, in Peru, than in the mother coun- 

 try. Marias, Conceptions, Asuncions, Natividads, and 

 Josefas, are quite common. A girl born on Candlemas-day 

 is called Candeldria. If a child's birth day is the first day 

 of the year, it is called Jesus, or Jesusito, if a male, and 

 Jesusita if a female. A married woman does not assume 

 the surname of her husband, except as an addition to her 

 own family name ; as for instance, if Dona Maria Dolores 

 Castilla should marry Don Lafuente, she would style herself 

 Doha Maria Dolores Castilla de Lafuente. 



Little more can be said of the mixed races, than that they 

 resemble similar classes the world over. The bad qualities 

 of their progenitors are more frequently copied than their 

 good qualities ; their vices are pretty sure to be inherited, but 

 their virtues generally prove a lapsed legacy. In the remote 

 districts, descendants of the ancient Indian tribes may occa- 

 sionally be found, who preserve unimpaired the nobler and 

 better traits and characteristics of their ancestors, but it is 

 oftener the case that they exhibit the demoralization and cor- 

 ruption consequent on their intercourse with the whites. 

 The mestizos constitute the most active and enterprising 



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