178 



the place presents the appearance of a fair, from the number 

 of people who go out to pic-nic, and spend the day in roam- 

 ins among the hills and decking themselves with the flowers, 

 or in dancing, horse-racing, and other sports. This annual 

 promenade commences on St. John's day, the Amancaes being 

 then in full flower ; and from an early hour, a great part of 

 the. motley population of Lima are seen swarming towards 

 the hills, gaily dressed in all sorts of colours, of brighter 

 hue, but not more varied in their tints than the complexions 

 of the wearers. When the day is fine^and the mist confined 

 to the hills, the scene is singularly picturesque. On one 

 hand, the steep rocky sides of the valley are studded with 

 cattle tended by their Indian owners, and gradually disap- 

 pearing in the mist as they wind among the hills, the plain 

 below, extending to the main valley of the Rimac, is covered 

 with groupes engaged in various sports, and fresh parties 

 constantly arriving; while, on the opposite side of the river, 

 with distant mountains for a back-ground, the white spires 

 of the city are seen through the groves of orange-trees in the 

 gardens of the suburbs; and lower down, the cultivated valley 

 leads the eye to the ocean, with the Island of San Lorenzo 

 rising abruptly in the distance. 



The season was considered late, and the cloudy weather 

 had not extended far inland, so that, after proceeding a ievr 

 leagues, the hills were perfectly naked, and exhibited a 

 marked contrast to the fields of maize and lucerne in the 

 valley below. We arrived before sunset at an estate called 

 Punchanea, five leagues from Lima. The proprietor, an 

 old Spaniard, to whom one of my companions had rendered 

 some essential services during the revolution, gave us a 

 hearty welcome, and an excellent supper was prepared for 

 us, without garlic. As a compliment to our English tastes, 

 too, the supper was no sooner removed than tea was placed 

 on the table. 



Providing beds, especially to a part}^ forms no part of the 

 hospitality shown to travellers in South America. Each 

 person, if he have a luggage mule, carries bedding with him, 

 but at all events, he has some rugs and a blanket over his 



