NOTICES OP PERU. 



215 



crowned by eight lions, with a griffin at the feet of each, and 

 is ornamented exteriorly with mouldings and flowers in semi- 

 relief, and interiorly the sides and bottom are glazed. In the 

 centre of this reservoir is a pedestal eighteen feet high, com- 

 posed of three parts, which supports a second basin, eight feet 

 in diameter. Around it are eight grotesque masks, from the 

 mouths of which the water is jetted into the reservoir below. 

 A column, two feet in diameter and five feet high, adorned 

 with foliage in relief, rises out of the second basin, and sustains 

 a third, sixteen feet in circumference, and surrounded by 

 seraphs, who jet forth the water collected in it. Again arises 

 another column from its centre, supporting a ball, upon which 

 is poised a statue of Fame, five feet high. In her right hand 

 she once held the armorial bearings of the monarch of Spain, 

 and in her left, a trumpet with which she published his name 

 and magnificence to the world ! But they are gone. 



The whole height of the fountain is forty feet. At the 

 corners of the table of mason work are small fountains, orna- 

 mented like the centre one. The whole is of bell-metal, and 

 all its ornaments conform to the composite order of civic 

 architecture. 



From one of the inscriptions on the four sides of the pedes- 

 tal, we learn that this fountain was erected in 1650. The 

 water is derived from a common reservoir near the college of 

 Santo Tomas, on the eastern side of the city. The reservoir 

 is supplied from the Rimac; the difierence of elevation be- 

 tween it and the plaza is thirty-three feet. 



There are several other fountains in different parts of the 

 city, which present a brick wall or block of masonry, with 

 water constantly pouring from leaden pipes into a basin and 

 drain. 



The plaza of Lima, every hour of the day from dawn till 

 midnight, presents scenes of interest to the idle stranger, where 

 he may observe manners, customs, and costumes, so totally 

 difierent from all he has before met with, that if his curiosity 

 be not awakened, he must have been disinherited by mother 

 Eve. 



Entering the Portdl de Botineros, about ten o'clock in the 



