224 



THREE YEARS IN THE PACinC. 



Representations of the most striking scenes of the play for 

 the night, painted on canvass, are carried through the streets, 

 accompanied by the music of drum, haut-boy, and marimba,* 

 and followed by a crowd of raggamuffin boys. In the same 

 way, on the morning and day preceding the bull-bait, the 

 figures of various fireworks to be exploded at the exhibition, 

 are carried round. 



Walking through the streets, there is nothing met with, per- 

 haps, more unique or characteristic, than the droves of jack- 

 asses and mules, encountered at almost every step. The donkey 

 frequently manifests the most stupid indifference in his habits, 

 seldom heeding any person or thing that may come in his way. 

 Some little vigilance is therefore necessary, to avoid being 

 walked over by them, or unpleasantly squeezed between their 

 loads and the wall. 



Here, the street is almost choked by asses laden with green 

 grass ; there, by others, laden with stones, sometimes so small, 

 that we ask whether the animal can bear no more ; again, a drove 

 with capachos (small sacks of hide) filled with sand or earth. 

 Then comes the solitary borrico of the aguad&r, wending his 

 way in the same unvarying gait, though urged by spur and 

 weighty blows, habitually bestowed, it would seem for pastime, 

 as an idle man drums upon a table for amusement. The agua- 

 d&res are all negroes, and wear a garb like those in Valparaiso. 



The cruel treatment of the borricos in Lima, is as proverbial 

 as the tyrannical sway exercised by the ladies there ; hence 

 the sajdng, ^'Lima is the heaven of women, the purgatory of 

 men, and the hell of jackasses.'^ In order to facilitate the re- 

 spiration of these poor animals, the nostrils are slit up about 

 six inches ; and those carrying grass are muzzled with a piece 

 of dry hide, having holes cut in it. 



Mules share no better fate. They are reserved for the 

 heaviest labors. All the merchandise consumed in the interior, 

 is conveyed thither on the mule's back. The proverbial stub- 

 bornness of the mule is rarely manifested here ; a liberal be- 

 stowal of dry blows, made efficacious by abusive epithets, has 



• The same instrument is used by the negroes in Brazil. 



