432 LIMA. 



and the duties of the latter require him to accompany persons to the vault, beneath the high 

 altar, where lies the so-called body of the renowned captain. But in strange lands one listens 

 to legendary narrative with willing ear, and I was not to be thwarted. Two or three Limenos 

 accompanied the party, whom it was considered expedient to admit rather than contend longer 

 for the dollar demanded for each wax light necessary. The Sacristan led the way. There are 

 many cases, containing the remains of archbishops and other great men of the church, spread 

 over the vault, each labelled with the name and rank enjoyed in life ; and in an open niche on 

 one side there is a perfect skeleton, without such evidence of identity, but which the Sacristan 

 assured us the chronicles of the cathedral assert to be the remains of the conqueror of Peru. 

 Perhaps, like the traveller already referred to, who talked of his horse, the worthy Sacristan 

 has so often said, "There lies Pizarro," that he really thinks so. The flesh is entirely gone 

 from the nose and cheek-bones, though a portion, dried, as on mummies, remains on other parts 

 of the body. A finely plaited shirt, buttoned closely to the throat, envelopes his full round 

 chest for I sacrilegiously examined to the very sternum and over this a doublet of dark- 

 colored serge. The body lies on its back. A part of the clothing, consisting of strong, coarse, 

 blue linen, resisted my effort to tear it; but that about the extremities a cotton fabric is 

 much more decayed, moulders at the touch, and lies in heaps. One shoe remains on the foot ; 

 the other lies on the body. 



After searching a whole morning on the north side of the bridge thrown over the Kimac, 

 and making fruitless inquiries of a Sacristan within a hundred yards of the very spot, I finally 

 found the little church which I supposed to have been erected by Pizarro. I had taken this 

 long walk only to stand on the spot where he and his grim warriors had knelt to be shriven. 

 Its appearance was strictly consonant with what one would expect of the sixteenth century, 

 and the location fully corresponded with the landmarks given me by an American some years a 

 resident of Lima : a primitive uncouth building, without exterior ornament or decoration, 

 whose venerable bell was then summoning the congregation to worship. I was satisfied with 

 the identity, and found it no hardship to pass an hour within its walls, the handful of heroes of 

 the past, and the awe-inspired followers of the Inca, my only companions. But alas! when 

 the termination of the services permitted examination of the edifice, my mental creations and 

 philosophic reflections proved to have been wholly mistimed, an inscription on the wall inform- 

 ing me that the miserable flea-hole wherein I had suffered bodily torture during sixty mortal 

 minutes, and therein denominated "Esta sumtuosa Yglesia," was only erected in 1724, or there- 

 about ! The church really erected under Pizarro' s auspices is a small building on the same 

 side of the river, but much nearer to the bridge. As it is no larger than the dwellings now in 

 contact with it, and differs from them externally only in the pilasters on each side of its door, 

 and in having two small square turrets, it readily escapes observation. Its doors were closed 

 on the only occasion when I could return to this portion of the city, and its interior was not 

 seen. 



Another church that attracts much attention is Santo Domingo. At the time of our visit it 

 was decorated with flowers, and myriads of many-hued ribbons and wax candles, preparatory 

 to a great celebration to come off on the 14th. It has a front of 80 feet, depth 300 feet, the 

 highest steeple in the city, and a profusely ornamented arched ceiling. There is an altar 

 dedicated to Santa Rosa, whose relics are preserved here near the chapel pertaining to the titu- 

 lar saint, and one to Our Lady of the Rosary, besides many chapels ornamented with figures 

 illustrating passages of Scripture. The convent to which it belongs! occupies a whole square ; 

 and its inmates still enjoy a handsome yearly income, though the neglected pictures of its 

 cloisters seem tokens of declining fortune. On the evening of October 13 the church was very 

 brilliantly lighted, the services closing with a display of fireworks on the plazuela before it. 

 How pyrotechnics and religion come to be affiliated we heretics are not permitted to know; but 

 doubtlessly the church is able to explain satisfactorily, and the people evidently enjoy the 

 former quite as much as the latter. 



