order the saya is of different colours - purple, pale blue, lead colour, or striped. The manto is a hood of thin black silk, drawn round the waist, and then carried over the head by closing it before, they can hide the whole of the face, one eye alone being visible; sometimes they show half the face, but this depends on the choice of the wearer. A fine shawl or hankerchief hanging down before, a rosary in the hand, silk stockings, and satin shoes, complete the costume. "The hood is undoubtedly derived from the Moors, and to a stranger it has a very curious appearance; however, I confess that I became so reconciled to the sight, that I thought and still think it both handsome and genteel. This dress is peculiar to Lima; indeed I never saw it worn any where else in South America. It is certainly very convenient, for at a moment's notice a lady can, without the necessity of changing her under-dress, put on her saya y manto, and go out; and no female will walk in the street in any other in the day time. For the evening promenade an English dress is often adopted, but in general a large shawl is thrown over the head, and a hat is worn over all between the folds of the shawl it is not uncommon to perceive a lighted cigar; for although many of the fair sex are addicted to smoking, none of them choose to practise it openly. : "When the ladies appear on public occasions, at the theatre, bull circus, and pascos, promenades, they are dressed in the English or French costume, but they are always very anxious to exhibit a profusion of jewellry, to which they are particularly partial. A lady in Lima would much rather possess an extensive collection of precious gems than a gay equipage. They are immoderately fond of perfumes, and spare no expense in procuring them: it is a well-known fact, that many poor females attend at the archbishop's gate, and after receiving a pittance, immediately purchase with the money agua rica, or some other scented water. Even the ladies, not content with the natural fragrance of flowers, add to it, and spoil it by sprinkling them with lavender water, spirit of musk, or ambergris, and often by fumigating them with gum benzoin, musk and amber, particularly the mistura, which is a compound of jessamine, wall flowers, orange flowers and others, picked from stalks. Small apples and green limes are also filled with slices of cinnamon and cloves. The mixture is generally to be found on a salver at a lady's toilette: they will distribute it among their friends by asking for a pocket handkerchief, tying up a small quantity in the corner, and sprinkling it with some perfume, expecting the compliment that it is most delicately seasoned." African Custom. "In the suburbs of San Lazaro are Cofradias or clubs belonging to the different castes or nations of the Africans, where they hold their meetings in a very orderly manner, generally on a Sunday afternoon; and if any one of the royal family belonging to the respective nations is to be found in the city, he or she is called the king or queen of the cofradia, and treated with every mark of respect. I was well acquainted with a family in Lima, in which there was an old female slave, who had lived with them for upwards of fifty years, and who was the acknowledged queen of the Mandingos, she being, according to their statement, a princess. On particular days she was conducted from the house of her master, by a number of black people, to the cofradia, dressed as gaudily as possible; for this purpose her young mistresses would lend her jewels to a considerable amount, besides which the poor old woman was bedizened with a profusion of artificial flowers, feathers, and other ornaments. Her master had presented her with a silver sceptre, and this necessary appendage of royalty was on such occasions always carried by her. It has often gratified my best feelings, when Mama Rosa was seated in the porch of her master's house, to see her subjects come and kneel before her, ask her blessing, and kiss her hand. I have followed them to the cofradia, and seen her majesty seated on her throne, and go through the ceremony of royalty without a blush. On her arrival, and at her departure, the poor creatures would sing to their music, which consisted of a large drum, formed of a piece of hollow wood, one end being covered with the skin of a kid, put on while fresh, and braced by placing it near some lighted charcoal; and string of catgut, fastened to bow, which was struck with a small cane; to these they added a rattle, made of the jaw-bone of an ass or mule, having the teeth loose, so that by striking it with one hand they would rattle in their sockets. For a full chorus, they sometimes hold a short bone in their hand, and draw it briskly a a backward and forward over the teeth it does not produce much harmony, it is true: but if David fonnd harmony in his harp, Pan in his pipes, and Apollo in his lyre; if a shepherd find music in his reed, and a mandarin in the gong, why should not the queen of Mandingo find it in the jawbone of an ass or a mule ! "The walls of the cofradias are ornamented with likenesses in fresco of the different royal personages who have belonged to them. The purpose of the institution is to help those to good masters, who have been so unfortunate as to meet with bad ones; but as a master can object to selling his slave, unless he prove by law that he has been cruelly treated, which is very difficult, or next to impossible, the cofradias raise a fund by contributions, and free the slave, to which the master cannot object; but this slave now becomes tacitly the slave of the cofradia, and must return by instalments the money paid for his manumission." English Manufactures.-" On entering a house in Lima, or in any other part of Peru that I visited, almost every object reminded me of England; the windows were glazed with English glass-the brass furniture and ornaments on the commodes, tables, chairs, &c. were English-the chintz or dimity hangings, the linen aud cotton dresses of the females, and the cloth coats, cloaks, &c. of the men, were all English :-the tables were covered either with plate or English earthenware, and English glass, knives, forks, &c.; and even the kitchen utensils, if of iron, were English; in fine, with very few exceptions, all were either of English English or South American manufacture." A Heroine." The valley of Chancay is the birth-place of the celebrated Nina de la huaca, young lady of the huaca, taking her name from the huaca, the farm where she was born. She stood six feet high, which was a very extraordinary stature, as the Peruvian females are generally low. Extremely fond of masculine exercises, nothing was more agreeable to her than to assist in apprehending runaway slaves, or in taking the robbers who sometimes haunt the road between this place and Lima. She would mount a spirited horse, al uso del pais, astride, arm herself with a brace of pistols, and a hasta de rejon, a lance, and with three or four men she would scour the environs of the valley and the road to Lima, where she became more dreaded than a company of encapados, or mounted policeofficers. I visited her at her residence, and found her better instructed in literature than the generality of the native females; she was frank, obliging, and courteous, managing her own estate, a sugar plantation, to the best advantage, superintending the whole of the business herself. Destructive Insect.-The destructive qualities of the comejen are so active, that "in the space of one night it will penetrate the hardest wood, or any other similar substance. I have been assured, that in the same space of time, it has been known to perforate a bale of paper, passing quite through 24 reams. This insect builds its nest under the eaves of the houses, of a glutinous clay, similar to that used by the swallows in the fabri cation of their nests; but the comejen continues his for several yards in length. The greatest care is necessary to prevent their entering a store or any such place, where their depredations would cause a considerable decrease in the value of the contents. The natives sometimes daub their nests with tar, which destroys the whole swarm; for if disturbed, they will divide into different societies, and each will separately search for a convenient place in which to form a new one. Purple Dye.-"The small shellfish found on the rocks near to Santa Elena are worthy of notice, as I believe them to be the true Turbines. They are about the size of a hazel nut, shaped like a snail, and by different operations the beautiful purple dye is obtained from them. Some prick the fish with a needle or cactus thorn, and then press it down into the shell till a small quantity of milky juice appears, into which a portion of cotton is dipped; it is put into an earthen jar or cup, and the fish is placed again on the rock: others take the fish out of the shell, and lay it on their hands; they press it with a knife from the head towards the tail or the slender part, which becomes filled with liquid, and is cut off, and cotton is applied to absorb the moisture, otherwise thread is passed through it. When the cotton is soaked in the liquor, and a sufficient quantity is obtained, it is mixed with as much dry cotton as it will conveniently make damp, the cotton being well carded or teased; it is afterwards dried and spun; when thread is used it is only drawn through the liquor and dried. The colour is at first a pale yellow, it subse quently quently changes to a greenish hue, and in the course of a few hours it acquires the beautiful purple tinge so much admired by the ancients, and which no future washing or exposure to the air can alter. The thread dyed by the liquid procured from this small fish is often sold in Guayaquil, and is called caracolillo, from carocol, a snail." The Alligator." I have frequently seen the alligators, or lagartos, eighteen or twenty feet long. They feed principally on fish, which they catch in the rivers, and are known sometimes to go in a company of ten or twelve to the mouths of the small rivers and creeks, where two or three ascend while the tide is high, leaving the rest at the mouth; when the tide has fallen, one party besets the mouth of the creek, while the other swims down the stream, flapping their tails, and driving the fish into the very jaws of their devourers, which catch them, and lift their heads out of the water to swallow them. "When these voracious creatures cannot procure a sufficient quantity of fish to satisfy their hunger, they betake themselves to the savanas, where they destroy the calves and foals, lurking about during the day, and seizing their prey when asleep at night, which they drag to the water-side, and there devour it. The cattle and the dogs appear sensible of their danger when they go to the rivers to drink, and will howl [low] and bark until they have attracted the attention of the lagartos at one place, and then drop back and run to another, where they drink in a hurry, and immediately leave the water-side; otherwise, as has been the case, an alligator would seize on them by the nose, drag them under the water, and drown and eat them. "When the lagarto has once tasted the flesh of animals, it will almost abandon the fish, and reside principally ashore. I crossed the large plain of Babayo, where I saw a living one, buried, except the head, in the clay, beside the remains of several dead ones. On inquiring how they came there, the montubios, a name given here to the peasantry, told me, that when the rains fall in the mountains great part of this savana is inundated, at which time the lagartos prowl about in search of the cattle remaining on the small islands that are then formed; and when the waters retire they are left embedded in the clay, till the ensuing rains set them at liberty; they feed on flies, and can exist in this manner for six or seven months. When found in this state the natives always kill them; sometimes by piercing them with lances between the fore leg and the body, the only visible part in which they are vulnerable; if they be not prepared with a lance, they collect wood, and kindle a fire as near to the mouth of the lagarto as they dare venture, and burn him to death. "These animals will sometimes seize human beings when bathing, and even take children from the shores; after having succeeded once or twice they will venture to take men or women from the balsas, if they can surprise them when asleep; but they are remarkably timid, and any noise will drive them from their purpose. They have also been known to swim alongside a small canoe, and to suddenly place one of their paws on the edge and upset it, when they immediately seize the unwary victim. Whenever it is known that a cebado, one that has devoured either a human being or cattle, is in the neighbourhood, all the people join in the common cause to destroy it; this they often effect by means of a noose of strong hide rope, baited with some animal food; when the lagarto seizes the bait, its upper jaw becomes entangled with the rope, and the people immediately attack it with their lances, and generally kill it. "The natives divert themselves in catching the lagartos alive; they employ two methods, equally terrific and dangerous to a spectator, at first sight; both of these were exhibited to Count Ruis, when we were at Babaoyo, on our way to Quito. A man takes in his right hand a truncheon, called a tolete; this is of hard wood, about two feet long, having a ball formed at each end, into which are fastened two iron harpoons, and to the middle of this truncheon a plaited thong is fastened. The man takes this in his hand, plunges into the river, and holds it horizontally on the surface of the water, grasping a dead fowl with the same hand, and swimming with the other: he places himself in a right line with the lagarto, which is almost sure to dart at the fowl: when this happens, the truncheon is placed in a vertical position, and at the moment that the jaw of the lagarto is thrown up, the tolete is thrust into the mouth; so that when the jaw falls down again the two harpoons become fixed, and the animal is dragged to the shore by the cord fastened to the tolete. When 1825. on shore the appearance of the lagarto is really most horrible; his enormous jaws propped up by the tolete, showing his large sharp teeth; his eyes projecting almost out of his head; the pale red colour of the fleshy substance on his under jaw, as well as that of the roof of the mouth; the impenetrable armour of scales which covers the body, with the huge paws and tail, all contribute to render the spectacle appalling; and although one is perfectly aware that in its present state it is harmless, yet it is almost impossible to look on it without feeling what fear is. The natives now surround the lagarto and bait it like a bull; holding before it any thing that is red, at which it runs, when the man jumps on one side and avoids being struck by it, while the animal continues to run forward in a straight line, till checked by the thong which is fastened to the tolete. When tired of teazing the poor brute, they kill it by thrusting a lance down its throat, or under the fore leg into its body; unless by accident it be thrown on its back, when it may be pierced in any part of the belly, which is soft and easily penetrated. "The other method is, by taking a fowl in one hand, and a sharp strong knife in the other; the man swims till he is directly opposite to the alligator, and at the moment when it springs at the fowl the man dives under the water, leaving the fowl on the surface; he then holds up the knife to the belly of the animal, and cuts it open, when the alligator immediately rolls over on its back, and is carried away by the stream. Much has been said about the surprising agility of |