ANDACOLLO — LIMA PANAMA JAMAICA. 137 



commenced — the word serious being used in a highly 

 ironical sense. One of the three (the one with the eyes), 

 advanced and asked me to dance a cueca with her. I had 

 as much notion what a cueca was as the man in the moon. 

 I told her so. " Never mind ; Til show you/^ she said. 

 It was of no use, however. My companion volunteered 

 to show me by dancing with his favorita ; he performed, 

 I meanwhile sitting like a fool by the side of my senorita ; 

 she suggested that perhaps a leetle drop more of chicha 

 might set me going, — in fact, I wanted more powder in 

 the heels of my boots. The effect in about twenty minutes 

 was that I was hopping about from toe to toe, twist- 

 ing like a whirling dervish round my astonished partner, 

 jumping madly in the air, waving a handkerchief franti- 

 cally round my head, scraping my feet, screeching like 

 a Cherokee, and doing everything but stand on my head, 

 and all the time I was supposed to be dancing a cueca. 

 And do you suppose that charming senorita laughed at 

 me ? Not a bit of it ; she declared with the prettiest 

 grace in the world that I was, without exception, the 

 best cueca dancer she had ever seen ! I think at that 

 time I knew, more or less, twenty words of Spanish. 

 Now that^s not a large stock to take to an evening 

 party; but she was never tired of saying that I spoke 

 excellently — muy Gastellano. When I mention that we 

 went through the above performance nine times that 

 evening, and that we were dressed in knee-boots, cordu- 

 roy breeches, and straw hats 2 ft. wide, I think I have 

 said enough to prove that we may have appeared rather- 

 singular to the lookers-on outside ; however, it was a 

 fiesta, and what matters then ? 



We literally tore ourselves away from this most- 

 hospitable family next morning, leaving one heart behind 



