dark faces of the dancers as they move
through the graceful evolutions of the
zambacucca—  the favourite dance of the coloured
races. Lima is, perhaps, the most hospitable
city in the world; although many of
its old customs are falling into disuse. Even
yet, as you traverse its streets after nightfall,
you may see shining in many a gateway, the
"welcome-lamp," once universal; which tells
to the passing friend or stranger that the
family is " at home " and ready to receive
him. At Christmas every house is open.
Strangers enter without fear. To be a
foreigner is to have a double claim and
to be greeted with a double welcome. The
ceremony and restraint which we associate
with Spanish manners have no existence
here, and no introduction is necessary. With
the prettiest girl in the room for a partner
(if she be disengaged, and the stranger can
muster sufficient courage and Spanish to ask
her) he may join the waltzers, who are
spinning round the saloon; or, he will find
in the adjoining apartment, cigars, ices, liquors,
sherbet, and pastry, to which he is expected
to help himself without ceremony. A sudden
intimacy springs up between him and sundry
gorgeous little officers in small moustaches
and large silver-hilted swords, or with
beautiful women, who introduce themselves
by some startling Christian name—  the
surname being seldom used in conversation. A
child born on any festival or Saint's day
receiving the name of such Saint or festival, and
it is amusing to hear names, which translated
into English, would be Donna Nativity,
or Donna Ascension; or not unfrequently
Donna Holy Ghost (Espiritu Santo) or
Jesuita. The visitor is at once invested with a
title; and by the lips of a fair companion,
the plain John, which his godfather gave
him, is transformed into the more sonorous
Don Juan.

Among the loungers in the saloon may be
noticed several ladies wearing a dress peculiar
to Peru; and which, on the perfect figures of
the Limeñas, has a very graceful appearance.
From the waist descends the " saya," a skirt
of stiff-padded silk, gathered at the top in
small plaits, and falling to the ancles in
voluminous folds, which stand out like a
hooped petticoat, displaying the small and
pretty foot,—for which the Lima ladies are so
deservedly celebrated,—  enclosed in a white
satin slipper worked with gold and silver
thread. From the head droops the manta, a
thick veil of dark silk, enveloping the upper
part of the person, and drawn round the face
so as to leave one bright eye only uncovered.
One little hand confines the folds of the
manta, whilst the other holds a nosegay, or a
highly-scented handkerchief. In this dress
the lady becomes the "tapada"—  the concealed
—and, thus disguised, she indulges in the
most satirical comments on her neighbours,
without fear of discovery; for the sacred
manta may not be profaned by the rude hand
of even a husband or a brother. Stiff French
fashions are now rapidly superseding this
graceful costume; although the tapadas
attend the religious processions in great
numbers, and the piquant coquettish manta may
frequently be met with in the city.

In many private houses a sort of theatrical
representation of the Nativity is displayed on
Christmas Eve; resembling, in some respects,
the old English mysteries. It is often got up
with considerable skill and at a great expense;
the child being sometimes cradled in a silver
manger.

Later, the bell of the cathedral tolls
again, and every church in the city, with
answering chime, summons to the midnight
mass,—  the most gorgeous of Rome's splendid
pageants. The crowded plaza empties
itself into the noble church; whose vast area,
unbroken by pews or benches, is covered with
kneeling figures. Around the walls are
numerous shrines, on which stand large
waxen images of saints, coloured like life,
clothed in rich robes, and hung around with
costly offerings. Before them burn immense
wax candles six or eight feet high. Above
the altar many valuable paintings are
displayed, the gifts of former kings of
Spain. On either side stands a massive
silver candlestick with many branches, weighing
upwards of a hundred pounds; whilst
round the shrine are ranged seven silver
columns, twelve feet high; each column bearing
as its capital a gilded crown. The shrine
itself is pure gold, beautifully wrought, and
glittering with a profusion of precious stones;
and on the golden altar service, the lustrous
diamond sparkles beside the pale-green
emerald.

At the first notes of the organ pealing
through the church, a procession—consisting
of richly-dressed priests who appear from the
vestries, and a long file of priests and monks,
led by the stately archbishop—winds slowly
round the church; the black and scarlet robes
are seen for a moment as they pass the lighted
shrines, and then are lost in the obscurity of
the darker aisles; whilst, flung from a
hundred silver censers, heavy clouds of incense
fill the air with sickening perfume. It is then
that they raise the gorgeous chalice to celebrate,
in splendour and magnificence, the lowly
birth of Him who knew not where to lay his
head, who taught that gentle doctrine—
"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit
the earth."

The Limeñas are early risers; and, by six
o'clock in the morning of Christmas-day the
market-place is crowded with customers,
among whom appear many ladies attended by
their slaves; for whilst the importation of
negroes into Peru is prohibited, and the laws
declare that the moment a slave brought from
another country touches the soil of the republic,
he is free; yet those already in bondage
remain unliberated, and even their children up
to a certain age, continue slaves; although