4 



NOTICES OF PERU. 369 



had returned from Guambacho in the morning. They reported 

 that they had great difficulty to get any thing to eat in the 

 pueblo, and that there was a strong disposition manifested to 

 impose upon them, and cheat them of their money. According 

 to their account, the widow Panchita was the only lady in the 

 country. 



About half past five o'clock we launched our boat, and, after 

 a long and tedious pull outside of the promontory that separates 

 the two bays, we got on board. 



CHAPTER XXL 



Santa — Bathing — A prison scene — An execution. 



At one o'clock, P. M., on the 7th of March 1833, we an- 

 chored in the Bay of Santa. 



We landed, and walked along the shore, stopping at the dif- 

 ferent ranchos, (only six in all,) constructed by hanging flag 

 mats on poles, forming a square divided into two or three apart- 

 ments. In one we found the curate of Santa, attended by his 

 mistress, a comely girl, of an Indian caste, and about eighteen 

 years old. The padre was a short, stout man, with a round face 

 and jaundiced eye. He told us that he had been suffering for a 

 long time with the " tertiana," or intermittent fever, and had 

 been recommended sea bathing as a dernier resort for his cure! 

 This is not the only instance that has come in my way, of the 

 priests violating their vows of celibacy. 



About half a mile from the usual landing place, were two 

 ranchos, occupied by families who had taken up a temporary 

 abode, for the advantage of sea bathing in the cases of some 

 of their members. Several females were bathing ; and as they 

 sprung up to avoid the rolling in of the surf, they gave way to 

 the hilarity of youth on a narrow escape, or they plunged into 

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