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depository for all kinds of rubbish, and the accumulation of dust is 

 great. The staircase leading to the upper story is generally hand- 

 some, and decorated with fresco paintings, which are, however, far 

 below mediocrity. This style of building is well adapted to the 

 climate. 



The Portales or Arcades is one of the most attractive places for the 

 stranger. He is there sure at all hours to see more of life in Lima 

 than at any other place. They are built on two sides of the Plaza. 

 The ground-floor is occupied as shops, where all kinds of dry-goods 

 and fancy articles are sold. Between the columns, next the Plaza, 

 are many lace and fringe-workers, &c. &c. ; and without these again 

 are sundry cooks, fresco-sellers, &c, who are frying savoury cakes 

 and fish for their customers, particularly in the morning and late in 

 the evening. 



The Arcades are about five hundred feet long, well paved with 

 small stones, interlaid with the knuckle-bones of sheep, which produces 

 a kind of mosaic pavement, and makes known the date of its being 

 laid down as 1799. This place for hours every day is the great resort, 

 and one has a full insight to every store, as they are all doors, and con- 

 sequently quite exposed, to their remotest corner. The second story 

 is occupied as dwellings. 



The Palace of the Viceroy occupies the north side of the Plaza. 

 The lower part of it is a row of small shops, principally tinkers and 

 smallware-dealers. On the east side is the Archbishop's Palace and 

 the Cathedral. 



The fountain in the centre of the Plaza is a fine piece of work, and 

 was erected, according to the inscription, in 1600, by Don Garcia Sar- 

 miento Sotomayer, the Viceroy and Captain-General of the kingdom. 



" El que bebe de la pila sequenda in Lima," is the usual saying. 



" He that drinks of the fountain will not leave Lima." 



The Cathedral is a remarkable building, not only from its size, but 

 its ornaments. Most of the decorations are in bad taste, and I should 

 imagine its former riches in the metals and precious stones have con- 

 tributed chiefly to its celebrity. Certainly those ornaments which are 

 left cannot be much admired. 



Its great altar, composed of silver, might as well be of lead, or 

 pewter, for all the show it makes. In a chapel on one side of the 

 building, there is a collection of portraits of the Archbishops. They 

 are good faces, well painted, and all are there but the one who at the 

 breaking out of the revolution, proved faithful to his sovereign and the 

 Spanish cause. They all have had the honour, except him, to be 

 interred in niches, in the crypt, under the great altar. Many of the 



