266 



THREE YEARS IN THE PACIFIC. 



music ; and now every young lady of fashion sings and plays 

 the best pieces of Rossini and Paccini ; and many have learned 

 to read Italian. 



The Limanians are most wofully ignorant of geography and 

 history. I have been frequently asked, <'in what part of Phi- 

 ladelphia is London ?" Even some," says a Spanish traveller 

 in 1826, who are reputed to be learned and wise, believe 

 that England is a city, and the capital of a country called Lon- 

 don 



I was acquainted with a beautiful woman, of about twenty 

 years of age, who moved in the second rank, but had been re- 

 duced from the first by the reverses of her family. She was 

 remarkable for natural intelligence, the easy flow of her con- 

 versation, and the purity of her language. One evening, when 

 the conversation turned on geography, she remarked; "you 

 seem to know every thing — do tell whether it is true that the 

 world turns round every day !" 



<<Most assuredly." 



<'How wonderful!" she exclaimed, **andwhata miracle 

 that we are not sensible of it !" 



I then asked her whether she knew that the world is round, 

 and whether she was aware that vessels sail around it. She re- 

 plied ; <^ I believe that to be a fact, but I do not see any thing 

 so very astonishing in a voyage of circumnavigation, for I am 

 informed that the world is in the middle of the sea !" 



I endeavored to explain to her the solar system, at which 

 she expressed great admiration. After talking an hour, and 

 illustrating the form of the earth with an orange, she sighed, 

 and said, "puede ser ! — it may be — but I hear so many dif- 

 ferent stories about the same thing, that I scarcely know which 

 to believe ; I wish that God had told us all about it in the bible, 

 and then nobody could doubt!" 



An excuse for the want of education, and ignorance of lite- 

 rature among the females, is found in the late colonial system 

 of Spain, which could not have existed so long as it did, had 

 no precautions been taken to withhold knowledge from the 



* Un Transeunte. 



