Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/78

 on his first landing, for there is no peace for him! I have seen the officers go ashore in white trousers, and  in less than thirty minutes after landing they were black  with fleas and spotted nearly all over with blood.

As a general thing the houses are eighteen or twenty feet high, built of mud and reeds, some of sun-dried  bricks, and usually have but one room, with a veranda  in front. The yard and cellar are on the roof, where you will find all the cooking utensils, rubbish, etc. There is always a large guyaquil, or hammock, swung from one corner of the room to the other.

The dress of the Peruvian ladies is the tapada saya, or petticoat, made in plaits, containing thirty yards of  costly silk. It is drawn very close at the bottom, so that the wearer cannot take a step of more than eight or  ten inches. A costly mantilla, or cloak, — and for the poorer women one of cheaper material, — is drawn over  the head, concealing all the face but one eye. The dress of the men is the poncho, some of which are very  costly and richly trimmed. The poorer ones are like a blanket with a slit in the middle, through which the  wearer thrusts his head, and the garment falls on all  sides. The ladies are very fond of sitting in the veranda to see and be seen, and, if pretty, to be admired. They walk very prettily and gracefully, and have very small  hands and feet. The color of their hair is black, and it is very soft. They wash it in water in which Peruvian bark has been steeped. They seem to look through you with their piercing black eyes.

The tide at Callao is small, at three feet only. The situation of old Callao, which was destroyed by an