DRESS OF THE LIMA LADIES. 



183 



great measure speaks to the fact. I call it dis- 

 gusting, because it was the first impression I 

 felt on seeing it, and that impression was not 

 worn off when I left, although many of my coun- 

 trymen were in raptures with it and termed it 

 elegant. Time might have worn off this first 

 impression ; still, it cannot constitute the fact 

 of its being elegant, when it takes so long a time 

 to become reconciled to it. I mention this 

 merely because those very gentlemen who now 

 admire the dress, admit themselves that at first 

 they experienced a little revolt at it. 



As I am not singular in thinking this dress 

 disgusting, I shall here give an extract of a let- 

 ter from a lady to her friend in the United 

 States, taken from a New York paper, wherein 

 it is much better described than I could do it. 

 She says, ^^ A most singular and disgusting 

 dress is worn by the females of Lima in the 

 streets, called the ' sayo y manto it is peculiar 

 to, and is worn only by them. It consists of a 

 petticoat of silk or bombazine, laid in fine plaits 



