PUBLIC DIVERSIONS. 



217 



been in search, not of an honest diversion, but of a ruinous 

 game. 



The BULL FEASTS havc their determinate time and place. 

 When the prize-fighters are denied an opportunity to display 

 their valour, they are admired on account of their legerity. 

 The custom of hamstringing the bull that does not attack, is 

 very censurable : another method ought to be devised to kill 

 him, without resorting to this one, which conveys with it an 

 idea of cold and deliberate treachery. The spe6lators are not 

 a little molested by the importunities of the venders of a par- 

 ticular description of punch, stiled by them agua de berros 

 (cress-water), so much overcharged with brandy, that it 

 would be fatal in any other country less moderate than Peru. 

 In this diversion the mode is not so cruel as it was six or eight 

 years ago. A fighter at a bull-feast is represented in Plate 



vni. 



The ASSEMBLAGES of Company on the banks of the Aman- 

 caes river, commence on St. John's day, the 24th of June, 

 and terminate at the close of September. The excursions to 

 the hills* adjacent to Lima take place at the same time. The 

 gentle garua-\^ descending from that station, covers with 



* These hills are named the Amancaes and St. Christopher. They may be con- 

 sidered as a continuation of the Cordillera of the Andes mountains, notwithstanding 

 they are comparatively very low, and projedl into the delightful valley of Rlraac, in 

 the centre of which Lima is situated. 



f This Is a provincial term, by which is implied a very small mist or dew, having 

 the efFedt of diffusing an equable moisture over the earth. Such a resolution of 

 the vapours which hover over the city and surrounding plains, must be highly 

 agreeable to the inhabitants of the distridt of los Falles, who never witness a formal 

 shower of rain. 



F f shrubs 



