the South -Sea. 23 E 



whom we mentioned before. In fhort ? they reckon there 

 are above 4000 Nuns ? among which there are four or five 

 Monafteries of very regular Religious women; 



We might here add a Houfe founded by the Archbifliop This is all a 

 Toribio, for Women divorced* It is incredible to what mg r ofsMifiaky 

 Excefs that Abufe has been carry'do there are People daily l HC ^ . 

 unmarry d 5 with as much Eaie as if xmtnmeny were n^Spainiw the 

 thing but a civil Contract, upon bare Complaints of Mif-Indie?,^^- 

 underftanding, Want of Health or Satisfadtion, and what ^ ^ J^ r ^ 

 isftillmore amazing, they afterwards marry others. BoZd'ficl 



This Abufe was brought them from Spain, at the very as cannot live 

 Time of the Settling of this Colony. The Intercourfe they together in 

 had long had with the Moors had made it fo common, that Pe * €e * 

 Cardinal Xivienes thought himfelf obliged to apply fome 

 Remedy to it ; and becaufe the Pretence of Spiritual Affi- 

 nity very often authorized Divorces, the Council of 

 Toledo, which he affembled in the Year 1497, ordain'd,. 

 that at Chriftenings Care fliould be taken to write down 

 the Names of the Godfathers and Godmothers, that the 

 t Truth might be known. 



The Penitent Women have alfo a Place of Retreat, P^te 

 which I do not think is very full, becaufe of the little 1 *™! 

 Scruple they make in that Country of Libertinifm, and the 

 little Care that is taken to curb it. They call them las 

 Amparadas de la Conception, or the Protected of the Con- 

 ceptipn. 



It may feem that by the great Number of Monafteries 

 and Religious Houfes of both Sexes, we may imagine 

 Lima to be a Place much addi&ed to Devotion > but that 

 Outfide is far from being made good by thofe who live in - 

 them,- for moftof the Friers lead fuch a licentious Life "there, 

 that even the Superiors and Provincials draw from the 

 Monafteries confiderableSums of Money to defray the Ex- 

 pences of a worldly Life,and fometimcs of fuch open Lewd- 

 nefs, that they make no Difficulty to own the Children 

 that are got, and to keep about them thofe undeniable. 

 Proofs of their diforderly Lite, to whom they often leave 



