ROBBERIES AND MURDERS. 



179 



through the middle^ and wash fish^ and various 

 utensils^ leaving the entrails on the sides, rotting 

 in the sun, until they are devoured by immense 

 large birds, called turkey-buzzards, that are 

 constantly to be seen devouring the various nui- 

 sances with which the streets are infested. 



I had been in Lima but a month, when I re- 

 ceived orders to return to England. This put a 

 check to all those observations which I was most 

 anxious to make ; but at the time I left, the 

 country was getting in a dreadful state of alarm. 

 Bolivar being expected, had thrown all Lima 

 into confusion, and by some parties a revolution 

 was hourly expected; all capable of bearing 

 arms were enrolled in the militia, none excused 

 excepting under the ages of sixteen and above 

 fifty. The preparations that were making to op- 

 pose his entrance, appeared to lay everything else 

 aside ; business was at a stand, government in 

 suspense, one party scarce knowing how to trust 

 the other, armed bodies of banditti were fear- 

 lessly infesting the public roads, committing 



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