NOTICES OF PERU. 281 



or some other vital part. Again, the fight endures several 

 minutes, and both fall, exhausted by the loss of blood. 



The sums bet are almost incredible. I have heard of fifty 

 onzas ('^850,) being risked on a single battle. Usually, how- 

 ever, the bets run from one to a hundred dollars. 



Sunset is the signal for concluding the sport ; as the crowd, 

 with pleasure written on their countenances, pours into the 

 street, they are met by the venders of lottery tickets, and the 

 almost ceaseless cry of su — 6r — te. The neighborhood of the 

 cock-pit is distinguished by the unusual number of cocks te- 

 thered by a leg to the door of almost every house. 



In the evening the theatre is the grand attraction. It stands 

 in the rear of the convent of St. Augustin. Its exterior is 

 not distinguished from any of the neighboring dwellings. The 

 interior is shabby, and generally filled with fleas, and badly 

 lighted. It has three tiers of boxes, and a large box fronting 

 the stage for the President and the officers of the government. 

 The boxes are separated from each other by board partitions, 

 and rented by the season, the tenant furnishing it with chairs. 

 The pit seats have backs, and are numbered. The entrance to 

 the boxes is by stairs on the outside, which lead to corridors 

 upon which the boxes open. 



The ladies appear at the theatre dressed with taste and ex- 

 travagance, but the arrangement of the boxes is such, that 

 their fine figures and beautiful eyes do not appear to advantage. 

 In the pit, women go disguised, or rather with their faces con- 

 cealed with a shawl folded over the head in such a way as to 

 hide all but one eye. Between the acts, the pit appears as if 

 it were filled with fire flies, from the scintillations of the ma- 

 ch6ros ; all the men commence smoking so soon as the curtain 

 drops. Boys, with trays of sweetmeats, circulate through the 

 pit and the corridors of the boxes, crying, or rather vociferat- 

 ing, "el dulcero," or <<el caramelero,^^ while others, with 

 glasses of water, cry un vaso de agua." From the earliest 

 times, decrees have been issued, both by the Viceroys and 

 Presidents, against smoking in the theatre, but to no purpose. 

 Even the old ladies retire to the back of the boxes to enjoy a 

 few whiffs during the intervals of the play. A half dozen dirty 

 36 



