CUSTOMS AND MANNERS. 



229 



out other small defe6ls, although not very common ones. I 

 availed myself of the opportunity he afforded me, to demand of 

 him the country to which this Eugenia, so beautiful and so 

 lovely to the view, might belong. He replied with a myste- 

 rious smile : " The country of Eugenia is distant from Pekin 

 about two thousand leagues, and more than ten thousand itine- 

 rary miles farther from Madrid." — ** Alas !" I exclaimed with 

 surprize, '* you cannot be in earnest. You wish to say that 



the country of Eugenia is " The violence with 



which I made this exclamation awaked me, intercepting on 

 my lips the word by which I was about to divulge the whole 

 of the secret. I awoke, I say, and remained so utterly asto- 

 nished with this dream, that I address myself to you, gentle- 

 men, praying that you will either interpret it yourselves, or 

 publish it, to the end that it may be explained by any one of 

 your readers deeply versed in these subjects. 



A lady of Lima, in her full dress, is represented in 

 Plate X. 



The original from which the engraving was made, is a 

 highly finished portrait, bearing the stamp of great fidelity 

 of delineation. The most conspicuous part of the costume 

 is the faldellin, or short hoop petticoat, more particularly 

 worn in the carriage, and at public entertainments. It is 

 made of richly embroidered cloth, Velvet, &c. ; is rendered 

 flexible by the means of whalebone ; and provided with a 

 wadding, to give it a greater protuberance, so as to display 



the 



