CEMETERY AT LIMA. 



27 



should anchor outside of the line, (of gun-boats,) 

 and that no individuals, of whatever class and con- 

 dition they be, shall come on shore." On the 23d 

 of February, we accordingly embarked, and, for 

 the present, took leave of Lima, without any 

 great regret ; for the period of our visit had been 

 one of constant irritation and difficulty. 



Lord Cochrane, who had been at sea for some 

 time, rejoined the blockading squadron in the 

 Roads just before the above discussion ended; 

 and on the 24th, I had an interview with his 

 lordship, on board his flag-ship, the San Martin. 



On the 25th his Majesty's ship Andromache 

 returned to the anchorage ; and on the 28th, with 

 a ship full of passengers, I sailed for Chili. 



The city of Lima has been described so often, 

 and so minutely, by well-known authors, that a 

 very few words respecting it will be sufficient in 

 this place. The road from Callao to Lima is six 

 miles long, perfectly straight, and the rise so 

 gradual, as to be almost imperceptible, although 

 the city is elevated above the level of the sea more 

 than six hundred feet. When seen from Callao 

 Roads, or even from a less distance, no town has 

 a more splendid appearance, owing to its numerous 

 domes and spires, rising from so elevated a situa- 

 tion, and wearing a strange and rather Moorish 

 aspect. On approaching the city, everything speaks 

 of past splendour and present wretchedness. At 

 the top of the road, there is an approach a mile 

 in length, between two double rows of fine trees, 

 with public walks, stretching on either hand, and 

 elegant ornamental stone seats ; all being now in 

 ruins, and choked up with weeds and shrubs. The 

 principal entry to Lima is at the end of this grand 

 approach, through a gorgeous triumphal arch, 

 tawdry and falling to decay, with the crown of 

 Spain mouldering on the top. 



No traveller, it is said, ever entered a great 

 town without feeling some disappointment ; and 

 the capital of Peru furnishes no exception to the 

 observation. The churches, which, at a distance 

 make so splendid a show, turn out on closer in- 

 spection to be very paltry structures, overlaid with 

 fantastic and tasteless stucco work, and tinsel 

 ornaments. The effect, therefore, which the mag- 

 nitude of the buildings might have produced, is 

 quite destroyed by the meanness of the details. 

 The lower part only of these great churches is 

 built of stone, the spires and domes being formed 

 of wood plastered over, which, though certainly a 

 wise precaution, is destructive of their magnificent 

 effect. This proceeds not from economical motives, 

 but from the recollection of many fatal catastrophes 

 which have taken place in churches built of stone, 

 in consequence of earthquakes, to which Peru is 

 unfortunately very liable. 



Lima, like all the Spanish towns in this country, 

 is divided by parallel streets, with others crossing 

 at right angles, into quadras or solid squares of 

 houses, about a hundred and twenty yards in 

 length on each face : a very considerable propor- 

 tion of the whole town is occupied by convents 

 and churches. Along the middle of the streets 

 there runs a stream of water, into which all rubbish 

 is ordered to be thrown; but as this is seldom 

 duly attended to, the streets become receptacles of 

 filth from one end to the other. 



The pavements both of the carriage-way and 



the footpaths, have been allowed to go out of 

 repair ; a circumstance the less attended to from 

 there being few wheeled carriages ; all heavy work 

 being done by asses and mules. 



About half a league from the city walls on the 

 N.E. there has been built, during the last century, 

 an extensive public burying-ground, in rather an 

 unusual taste. Instead of being dark and gloomy, 

 and surrounded by all sorts of sombre images, we 

 found it a very elegant and cheerful place, more 

 like an ornamental pleasure-ground than a ceme- 

 tery. The approach was by a fine sweep along 

 which carriages could drive, and visitors were 

 received at a handsome gate, within which was a 

 highly ornamented building like a Grecian Temple, 

 most absurdly named the Pantheon, inasmuch 

 as it contains only a large image of our Saviour 

 enclosed in a glass case, like a body lying in state. 

 On passing this edifice, we reached a large enclosed 

 space, like a garden, with numerous walks crossing 

 each other at right angles, and kept in the nicest 

 order. On each side of the walks rose walls about 

 six feet high, and eight or ten thick, which, on close 

 inspection, were found not to be solid, but con- 

 structed on the principle of honey-cc Tibs, with a 

 series of horizontal cells lying one above another, 

 each adapted for the reception of a coffin. Besides 

 the cells contained in these middle walls there 

 appeared to be innumerable others in courts and 

 areas adjoining. Every part of these works, how- 

 ever, was neatly whitewashed, and the whole was 

 rendered pleasing by some attempt at architectural 

 ornament : a small projecting cornice ran along the 

 top of the whole building, under which extended 

 from end to end a flat band or fillet of smooth 

 stone on which the names of the tenants of these 

 picturesque-looking tombs were inscribed. We 

 soon discovered by these inscriptions that each 

 convent and each family had its allotted place ; 

 and it was amusing enough to observe with what 

 exact attention to etiquette the precedence of the 

 dead bodies was maintained. The departed Arch- 

 bishops of Lima occupied the highest part in the 

 grounds — next came the subordinate fathers of 

 the church, the great officers of the state, and so 

 on, down to the lowest ranks. A particular spot 

 was assigned to the ladies — another to children ; 

 and here a careful distinction was pointed out to 

 us between the burial-place of infants who had 

 been baptized before their death, and those who 

 had not, the souls of the latter, as our guide took 

 great pains to inform us, being disposed of in 

 Limbo, a minor degree of purgatory. At the very 

 bottom of the grounds was a space railed off, apart 

 from the rest, in which the bodies of executed 

 malefactors were deposited. Even these, it ap- 

 peared, were allowed a decided superiority of rank 

 above suicides and heretics, who were excluded 

 from the enclosure altogether, and a strong screen- 

 work of brick built up between them and those who, 

 whatever their crimes may have been, had died in 

 the true faith of the church. 



The theatre, which was opened during the fes- 

 tivities upon the accession of the new Viceroy, was 

 of rather a singular form ; being a long oval, the 

 stage occupying the greater part of one side, by 

 which means the front boxes were brought close 

 to the actors. The audience in the pit was com- 

 posed exclusively of men, and that in the galleries 

 of women ; a fashion borrowed, I believe, from 



