230 



CUSTOMS AND MANNERS. 



the ankle more perfedlly. It is attended, however, by this in- . 

 convenience, that, in cHmbing a hill, or on any sudden mo- 

 tion, the wearer makes an exposure which borders on inde- 

 cency. Its numerous plaits cause it to assume a variety of 

 graceful forms, at the same time that they render it very 

 costly, fifteen yards of stuff at the least being consumed in 

 the outward covering. The expence of this article of dress 

 alone, is rated at between three and four hundred crowns ; 

 notwithstanding which, a modish female of Lima seldom pays 

 a ceremonious visit, without having previously had recourse 

 to the Bodegones, the principal street in which the fashion- 

 mongers reside, for a faldellin of the newest taste. In their 

 jewels, and, in general, in every part of their dress, the 

 ladies of the Peruvian capital are equally extravagant. 



One of their favourite ornaments is the puchero de Jlores, 

 or nosegay, which, as it may serve to illustrate the progress 

 of luxury in that capital, with the civil history of which it 

 is in some degree conne6led, merits a detailed description. 

 Its basis consists of the blossom of a small apple of the size 

 of a nut, of a white lily, of one or two rose-buds, of the 

 same number of cherry-blossoms, and of the flowers of the 

 Seville orange ; the whole laid on a plane-leaf, of the dimen- 

 sion of the eighth part of a sheet of paper. On the surface 

 of this plane-leaf are disposed chamomile-flowers, the flowers 

 of the yellow lily, violets, daisies, and thyme ; and, over 

 these again, a small branch of bazil mint, another of a sweet 

 pea bearing a violet flower interipixed with white, and, 

 occasionally, a stem of hyacinth, a branch of the odoriferous 

 rush having yellow flowers and white leaves, and the blos- 

 soms 



