274 



THREE YEARS IN THE PACIFIC. 



entirely owing to the law of primogeniture, which enhances 

 the consideration of the first born ; the republican shift-for- 

 yourself principle, is unfavorable to the cherishing those clanish 

 feelings of propinquity which we meet in ancient families. 



Gambling is the bane of Lima society. Though many laws 

 have been made against it, " monte al dao'^ is played, often to 

 a ruinous extent.* Gaming houses are kept secretly in almost 

 every part of the city, which are open throughout the day and 

 night. The very legislators and officers of the police coun- 

 tenance them by their presence. The President's chaplain 

 told me that General La Fuente, the late Vice President, had 

 won ^50,000 during the first year he was in office ! 



Besides the monte houses, the cafes and hotels are furnished 

 with billiard tables, to which the young men habitually resort 

 to play, and the very poorest of the populace have their pecu- 

 liar games. A mode of gambling which I have occasionally 

 seen in the plaza and streets, illustrates the universality of this 

 passion. Two fellows purchase two small boxes of sweet- 

 meats, and placing them at a short distance apart, lie down 

 near, to watch ; and, betting that a fly will alight on one be- 

 fore it does on the other, agree that whoever the insect flavors 

 shall take both boxes ! 



Should this be deemed an exaggerated sketch of Lima man- 

 ners and customs, I beg the reader to look at the work of Ta- 

 ralla,t which is admitted by all Limanians to be a true picture, 

 but rather highly colored. I am sorry to differ so much from 

 the high authority of the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, as quoted 

 by Mr. Benjamin Morrell, Jr. ; but I must say with Rousseau, 

 "e'est ma part de dire la v6rit6, mais non pas de la faire 

 croire !" 



* The law of 1822, prohibiting gambling, gives one half of the money 

 found on the table to the informer, and the other to the public treasury. 

 I Lima por Deutro y Fuera. Madrid, 1798. 



