NOTICES OF PERU. 



217 



shoulder, tottering under huge cocked hats trimmed with 

 feathers. They were collegians. Then came two gaily dressed 

 officers, arm and arm, whiskered and moustached — booted and 

 spurred. Nothing kept their vanity from flying away with 

 them, but the weight of their long metal scabbarded sabres, 

 which clattered after them over the pavement. The organ of 

 self-esteem must be even greater than that of combativeness in 

 the Peruvian army ! Next was a serrdno or Indian from the 

 interior, followed by his wife. He wore a high crowned, 

 broad brimmed straw hat without a band, and a long poncho of 

 bayeta, falling below the knee. His legs and feet were bare, 

 and judging from the spread of the toes, they had never been 

 acquainted with shoes. A pair of alforjas — coarse saddle bags 

 — hung carelessly over his left shoulder, and his right hand 

 grasped a long staff. His black temple locks hung straight 

 down his cheeks, as was the fashion hundreds of years before 

 the conquest. He was of brawny stature, with a broad cop- 

 per colored face, high cheek bones, and a serene countenance. 

 His wife was clad in a coarse woollen petticoat, plaited full 

 round the waist, and short enough to show her bare feet. A 

 young child was slung over her back in a shawl of blue bayeta. 

 Her hair was combed back from the forehead, and braided in 

 two long tresses hanging almost to the ground. Curiosity kept 

 the Indian looking over his shoulder, and, in consequence, he 

 ran into the corpulency of a staid judge, with a severe counte- 

 nance and a large cocked hat. His shirt was folded, ruffled, 

 and starched in a prim style, and a star of brilliants was sus- 

 pended round his neck by a broad tricolored ribbon. The ren- 

 contre was equally unexpected, for the judge was in a most 

 sedate and pensive mood. His moody look changed into a 

 scowl of contemptuous anger; the Indian cowered under it, 

 touched his hat, and passed on. The feelings of the Indian and 

 the European Spaniard are still as uncongenial as oil and water, 

 though, like the first of those two fluids, the Spaniard always 

 maintains his superiority. 



Half way down the Portal de Botineros is an alley, about 

 ten feet wide, leading into the street south of the piaza. This 

 is called el Callejon de Petateros, from being chiefly occupied 

 2S 



