76 



THE HACIENDA. 



cultivated on the mountain sides, but the grain does not come to 

 perfection, and it is generally cut green for fodder; though the General 

 says that it is not good for that, the straw being coarse and hard. 

 Potatoes are a good crop; they are worth now in Tarma one dollar and 

 fifty cents the hundred pounds, and in times of scarcity have been 

 known to run up as high as seven dollars. One of the principal 

 articles of food of the laborers of this country is "cancha" or toasted 

 maize. They mix a little lime with the grains before putting them in 

 the hot ashes, which makes them whiter and improves their flavor. 

 It is really very sweet and good, and I liked it better than the green 

 corn roasted, which is such a favorite dish with us. Chicha, a fermented 

 liquor, is also made from Indian corn, and much drunk by all classes. 

 The General gave us some that he had prepared and bottled himself. 

 It was very good, rose-colored, and sparkled like Champagne. He told 

 us that our corn, which he called " mais morocha" was not so good as 

 this for making either cancha or chicha; this being softer and sweeter. 



We visited the stables, which were very clean, and paved, and 

 contained some ten or fifteen fine-looking young horses ; and there were 

 thirty or forty more, mares and colts, in a spacious corral or enclosure 

 near, with an American farrier from Tarma attending to some of them. 

 There is also a neat little chapel occupying a corner of the "patio," 

 with the inscription over the door, u Do?nus mea, domus orationis est? 

 It was neatly papered and carpeted, and had colored prints of the 

 "Stations" hung around the walls. The altar-piece was a figure of our 

 Lady of Mercy, with the figures of St. Francis and St. Peter on each 

 side ; these Saints being the patrons of the General and his lady, Don 

 Francisco and Dona Pedronilla. The General's manners were exceed- 

 ingly courteous and affable ; and he possessed that suavity and gentle- 

 ness of bearing that seems to me always to characterize the military 

 man of high rank when in retirement. The whole establishment re- 

 minded me of one of our best kept Virginia farms, where the owner 

 had inherited the homestead of his father, and was in easy circum- 

 stances. 



June 12. — Dined with our countryman, Dr. Buckingham, and a 

 couple of young ladies, one of whom seemed to be his housekeeper. 

 The dinner was after the Peruvian fashion : first, a sort of thick soup; 

 then, roasted ribs of mutton, served with salad; this succeeded by a dish 

 of stewed Guinea pigs, mixed with a variety of vegetables, and which 

 would have been very good but for the addition of a quantity of aji, or 

 red pepper, which made it unendurable to the unaccustomed palate ; 

 winding up with the invariable chupe, and the invariable dessert of 



