NOTICES OF PERU. 



263 



ton. The female part consisted of the mother Dona Panchita 

 and three marriageable daughters. Their house is large. 

 The sala occupies the back of the terraplan, and is fiTrnished 

 with chairs, a rough table, and two long leather backed sofas. 

 A large glass lantern hangs from the centre of the ceiling. 

 This apartment is a common lounge for servants. To the left 

 is a sitting room, the walls of which are covered with crimson 

 damask hangings, supported by gilt cornices, and furnished 

 with tables, a pair of sofas, and chairs. Here the family gen- 

 erally sit when visited by familiar friends. A large glass 

 door with gilded sash opens from the sala into the cuddra or 

 parlor, which is perhaps forty by thirty feet, and the ceiling 

 is twenty feet high. Like the sitting room, the walls are 

 tapestried with crimson damask, secured by gilt cornices 

 and moulded surbases. The windows are near the ceiling, 

 and closed by rough inside shutters, which are managed by 

 silk cords terminated by tassels hanging into the room. A 

 Brussels carpet, with a large figure and of gay colors, covers 

 the floor. On the right are two white damask sofas, made 

 of light wood. The chairs correspond. Several small card 

 tables, chairs, and four large mirrors, are placed along the 

 walls. At convenient distances are silver and beautiful China 

 spitoons alternating with each other. A centre table with 

 marble top completes the furniture. Through a glass parti- 

 tion with gilt sash, at the end of the room opposite to the 

 sofas, is seen a dormitory, which is the pride of the family. 

 A high, tented canopy of blue silk with gold fringe, and cur- 

 tains of the same looped up to the posts, overhang a capa- 

 cious bed, the counterpane of which is of yellow satin, cover- 

 ed with flowers, embroidered in the appropriate colors. The 

 pillow cases are of fine, tambored cambric over pink satin. 

 w2//the utensils in this magnificent chamber are of solid silver I 

 Beds which cost a thousand dollars are by no means uncom- 

 mon now, and before the revolution, two thousand were often 

 expended on this piece of furniture ! 



In the first apartment I have attempted to describe, attired 

 in gay silks and lace, their necks and fingers sparkling with 

 brilliants, sit the mother and her daughters, entertaining a half 



