262 



THREE YEARS IN THE PACIFIC. 



CHAPTER IX. 



Morning visits — A family — Conversation — Difficult for foreigners to enter 

 society — Female education — Ignorance of Geography — Provincialisms — A 

 tertulla — Monte al dao — Use of Tobacco — Morale of Lima society — Habits 

 of the ladies — A good trait in the Lima character — Gambling. 



Sundays and feast days are appointed for visiting. The 

 officers of the government, civil and military, make calls on 

 the President, and on their friends. 



It is the fashion to make morning visits only on holy-days. 

 Calesas are rolling through the streets in every direction. 

 These vehicles present a grotesque appearance at first ; the 

 wheels are so large, the mules comparatively so small, and 

 the caleseros have such quaint liveries. The ladies do not 

 wear the saya y manto when riding, but ornament the hair 

 with dahlias and jasmine flowers, and dress in gay silks taste- 

 fully trimmed. Though so many colors are assembled to- 

 gether, they are harmonized with much taste. White silk 

 stockings and satin shoes, of every color except black, which 

 stamp a woman as poor, or of the second class, adorn the 

 feet. The extravagance of the ladies in these articles, is 

 great, though comparatively trifling now ; thirty years ago, 

 silk stockings were sold at from twenty to forty dollars the 

 pair, and then it was a matter of reproach to wear them after 

 they had been washed ! So soon as their lustre was gone, 

 they were thrown aside. It is an invariable rule with all 

 classes, and has been from time almost immemorial, to pur^ 

 chase new shoes every Saturday. Cotton stockings are rarely 

 seen, not even in dishabille. Silk shawls are carelessly worn 

 half ofi* the shoulders, and the hands are employed with a 

 small fan, which is scientifically fluttered and cracked every 

 few minutes. 



On Sundays I usually visited a family considered of haut 



