Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/252

218 shrubs and flowers the sandy plains that terminate the valley, and the hills by which it is encompassed. These diversions, insomuch as they are rural, delight, and are not attended by any bad consequences, unless when there is an excess in the repasts, and when the whole of the company come to a determination to sleep in the open air, or in a wretched hut deserted by the Indians.

The PROMENADE which is not only the most considerable, but which it is in a manner indispensably necessary to attend, is that of the Alameda, or public walk, on Sundays, and more especially on new year's day, and twelfth day, on account of the election of the alcaldes, or judges; and, on the second of August, on occasion of the jubilee in the church in the vicinity, belonging to the Franciscan Recollects. The multitude of coaches and calashes; the diversity of their colours and structure; the neatness of the dresses; the illustrious persons who are present; and the superb attire of the ladies who embellish the scene;—all these objects concur to render this description of public spectacle very agreeable. Caprice has, notwithstanding, thrown some little perplexity in the way. A certain precision in the demeanour of those who are seated in the calashes, and who are obliged to regard each other stedfastly, without turning the head aside, together with the impossibility of appearing on foot without sinning against the received usage, are insufferable violences, more particularly to those who do not keep carriages. The public, however, begin to be sensible of these prejudices, and to shake them off.

The WALK of la Piedra Lisa is solitary, and on that account destined for philosophers prone to meditation. The thick foliage