having quitted St. Jago, settled itself on the
second city of Chile.  He found that it chiefly
consisted of one long street, which was
intolerably hot in summer, and had been much
damaged by earthquakes.  There was, however,
a pleasant promenade, like the Alameda
at St. Jago, and Herr von Raumer loved now
and then to look upon the port, making the
observation that the trade of Chile is mostly
in the hands of the English.

After a short visit to Concepcion, and
another to Valdisia, Herr von Raumer
proceeded by water to Callao, the port of Lima,
where he expected much, but found only dirt.
However, as he went along the road from
Callao to Lima, he was amused by the motley
spectacle.  Mules adorned with bells and
feathers carried all sorts of wares for sale;
and the drivers, white, black, and brown,
sought to attract the attention of the multitude.
Presently, too, the city of Lima rose
in the distance, and looked very imposing,
with three gates, like triumphal arches, in
front, and the towering mountains in the
background.  But when the professor heard
that in eighteen hundred and twenty-five one
of the gates had been adorned with an inscription
in honour of Bolivar, that in eighteen hundred
and twenty-seven this had been obliterated,
and that another in honour of La Mar had
been put in its place; and further, that in
eighteen hundred and twenty-nine this second
inscription had likewise been stopped out,—
when he heard all this, we say, the good
professor could not help sighing on the
uncertainty of human affairs.

If Callao was dirty, Lima was cleaner than
most of the South American cities, though
less clean than the towns of Holland.  Pure
spring water flowed through well-paved
streets; the grand square was not only
remarkable for the cathedral and the president's
palace, but it had also a fountain in the
middle, and there was an agreeable Alameda,
shaded with trees, and provided with stone
benches.

The priests appeared to have more influence
in Peru than the other South American
states, though several blows had been struck
at their power since the revolution.  Nevertheless,
the enjoyment of life did not seem to
be impeded by any inconvenient rigidity.
The professor found the eating particularly
good, and admired the costly silver services
in the houses of the wealthier citizens.  Ice
was always to be had, as the company which
enjoyed the monopoly of supply was
immediately to forfeit its privilege in the event of
a deficiency.  Bull fights, cock fights, music,
and dancing, formed the rougher and softer
sports of the citizens of Lima.  The theatre
was in a very imperfect condition, its
excessive dirt being only concealed by the
badness of the lighting, and the prohibition
against smoking between the acts being utterly
set at defiance by the independent Peruvians.

Having seen so much, the worthy professor
began to think of returning homewards.  He
assures us that on the present occasion he
could not visit New Grenada and Venezuela,
for many reasons,—though whether these
reasons consisted in a deficiency of books, or
in certain flaggings of the imagination, weary
after so much exertion, we do not know.  In
spite of numerous warnings to the contrary, he
crossed the peninsula from Truxillo, on the coast
of the South Pacific, to Para, on the coast of the
Atlantic, performing the greater part of the
voyage on the river Amazon, with the
wonders of which he was so struck, that his
graphic power left him altogether, and we
therefore take the liberty of leaving him too,
hoping that our readers will sufficiently
admire this ingenious method of getting up a
grand dioramic exhibition without a picture.

THE GAME SEASON AT SPÃœRT.

FOR the instruction of those who have
never speculated upon cards at continental
gaming tables, I will expound how gentlemen
and ladies win and lose their money in the
fashionable little town of Spürt.

The Administration de Jeu of Spürt is
composed of one or two individuals—themselves
considerable shareholders in the bank, who
are appointed by the other proprietors to
manage the affairs of the company during the
season.  In payment for the trouble they are
at, they deduct for themselves a fixed
percentage from the net gains of the society
during the whole summer.  The chief
manager is allowed in this way seven per
cent, and that yields him a very handsome
income.  The actions, or shares, of the
company forming the bank at Spürt are chiefly
held by persons resident in the town or in
its neighbourhood; they are taken also by a
few of those who are entitled, by a long connection
with the tables, to buy shares whenever
they chance to be in the market—that is,
very seldom.  Shares are refused always to
strangers, the profits of the gambling business
being, on the whole, preserved as a snug
little monopoly for the benefit of the original
shareholders and their descendants.

The revenues of the Gaming Society of
Spürt are drawn from a pair of tables.  At
one of these a game called trente et quarante
(thirty and forty) is played every day, Sundays
included, during three separate periods.
At the second table the roulette wheel is
kept turning from twelve o'clock in the day
until half-past eleven at night.  The room in
which these games are carried on is fitted up
with sofas and chairs, gorgeous with crimson
velvet, and a table or two, indifferently
supplied with English and foreign newspapers.
The supply is bad because the administration
at Spürt is not famous for its liberality.  As
trente et quarante (sometimes called rouge et
noir, although it differs from that game in
several particulars) is supposed to be a game
superior in rank to roulette, the croupiers of