NOTICES OP PERU. 



265 



was reserving it, for the long winter nights, when we have no 

 terttilia!'' 



The visit ended, the ladies embrace in the most cordial man- 

 ner, and gently chide their visiters for staying away so long; 

 but they never return a visit in less than two weeks, and sel- 

 dom in less than a month. Foreigners require a long time to 

 become acquainted in Lima society ; the Limanians are jealous 

 and suspicious, and entertain strong prejudices against them, 

 which have tlieir origin in jealousies existing between the Spa- 

 niards and Creoles from the earliest period — jealousies that led 

 to family quarrels and general dissensions.* The old ladies are 

 wont to say, that previous to the revolution, they did not see 

 young ladies take gentlemen's arms at night, when walking 

 from the theatre — and indeed they expect the time will come 

 when girls will do so even in broad day light ! Ladies in Lima 

 think it highly indecorous to be seen walking the streets in 

 saya y manto, attended by gentlemen. Not being aware of this 

 fact, a late traveller has cast a severe slur on the character of 

 several females, whom he saw in the Alameda de la Portdda, 

 which, I am sure, was inadvertently done on his part. 



It may be inferred from what I have said of a morning call, 

 that the education of the Lima ladies is very limited. At 

 school they learn to read indifferently well; to write worse; 

 to embroider with floss silk ; to use the needle ; and to their 

 credit be it spoken, they generally make their own dresses, 

 and not unfrequently their own shoes ! Mantua makers, how- 

 ever, are few, and until within a very few years, were entirely 

 unknown. They acquire a slight knowledge of music, and play 

 the piano and guitar passably well. Since the revolution, some 

 few have studied French. Dancing is an hereditary accomplish- 

 mient, passed down from generation to generation. I have never 

 heard of such a being as a dancing master in the city, yet all 

 are graceful in the waltz and contradance. The beneficial ef- 

 fects of certain public amusements upon society, have been 

 lately shown in Lima. The Italian Opera Company, which 

 left there in 1832, diffused an almost universal taste for Italian 



* See N.oticias Secretas de America. Londres. 1826. 

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