400 Voyage of the Novara. 



and head, and drawn so close that there was only a small 

 triangular space left through which peeped one eye, has been 

 displaced by the long black head-dress which the Spanish 

 women are accustomed to wear. 



The ladies of Lima are usually of elegant, slight, graceful 

 appearance, their chief attractions being brilliant complex- 

 ion, large dark gleaming eyes, dazzling white teeth, rich 

 black hair, and very neat little feet. They greatly reminded 

 me of the Havana ladies, with whom they have much in 

 common so far as regards the passion for personal adornment, 

 while in figure and intelligent expression of face both lag far 

 behind the ladies of Chile. 



The gentlemen of Lima, by which term I allude chiefly to 

 the white Creoles or pure descendants of the Spaniards, who 

 constitute about one-third of the population,* do not leave 

 that impression of a splendid future resulting from a pros- 

 perous development of the resources of the country, which 

 might be reasonably expected if there were more intellectual 

 movement, and more industrial and commercial activity 

 apparent among their number. The state of affairs in Peru 

 since its separation from Spain in 1822, the constant squab- 

 bles and civil wars, as also the fact that a mere mestizo, like 

 Ramon Castilla, devoid of intellectual or moral pre-eminence, 



* According to the "Estadistica general de Lima" (1858) of M. Fuentes, Lima 

 has a population of 94,195, all told; according to the"Anuario Nacional" of A. 

 Leubel for 1861, only 85,116 souls, who inhabit a surface of 6523'597 square Varas 

 (Spanish). The entire population of Peru can hardly exceed 1,900,000, but a reli- 

 able census has never yet been made. 



