Lima

“ Six or eight miles inland appeared the white towers of Lima, surrounded by orange-groves; while above them, far into the blue sky, rose peak beyond peak of the ever-glorious snow-capped Andes. Such is the scene which, for many ages past, has been looked on; but a change—a great and important one—is taking place in the land; and what was our surprise, when we went on shore, to see English omnibuses and broughams—and more than that, the terminus of a railway, the carriages of which ran rattling on to Lima. ”

“ Not so in the interior of the country, where the whites are remarkable for intemperate drinking.
Far superior to the men, both physically and intellectually, are the women of Lima. Nature has lavishly endowed them with many of her choicest gifts. In figure they are usually slender and rather tall, and they are especially remarkable for small, elegantly formed feet. Their fair faces, from which the glowing breath of the tropics banishes every trace of bloom, are animated by large, bright, dark eyes. ”

“ In 1746 the city of Lima,—the gorgeous City of the Kings,—at the climax of its luxury, was utterly destroyed. Seventy-four churches, fourteen monasteries with their paintings, lamps of gold, vessels of silver, precious stones, tapestries, and mirrors, their beautiful fountains, arches, cloisters, and stairways in rare designs, were laid waste. The building material was as rich as the work upon it; as a contemporary traveler expressed it: “If it did not exceed in beauty, it at least equaled anything in the world.” ”

“ Long caravans, loaded with the wealth of the provinces as well as the produce of sales in the remote interior, filed into Lima, where countless gold-and silver-smiths were awaiting their arrival. Weavers of silks, velvets, and brocades, embroiderers, leather and metal workers, sculptors, artists, makers of glass and porcelain bells—all the most skilled workmen flocked to the capital of New Andalusia, the continent’s center, for there they found no lack of rich materials. ”

“ This mid-winter season of July and August, they say, is no time to see Lima at its best. The traveler who has been a thousand times assured that rain never falls on the coast of Peru will be astonished to find the streets often slimy and soaking wet with garúa, the Scotch mist that turns everything clammy and chill, yet never reaches the point where the shops find it worth while to include umbrellas among their stock. ”

“ The very architecture of Lima—its houses of a singly story—its plastered upper walls, its cane roofs, its towers and steeples of stuccoed wicker work—is a perpetual prayer against an evil which no human foresight can avoid, and no mortal power avert, and in respect to which the utmost that man can do, is in some degree to mitigate its consequences. ”

“ Lima, however, is not built on the coast, Callao being the seaport of the metropolis. Lima is a modern city in every way, with, handsome streets, electric lights, and all that any modern city has in the way of amusements.
The Nelson was anchored on the morning of August 14, in a sequestered spot, and the boys, after answering many foolish questions, laid plans to look over the wonderful city. It was necessary to station a strong guard about the machine, for the natives—many of whom spoke the English language fairly well—were overly curious concerning the man-made bird. ”

“ According to several Spanish authorities Lima is situated in 12° 2 ́ 51 ́ ́ south latitude, and in 70° 50 ́ 51 ́ ́ longitude west of Cadiz. To the northward and eastward of the city hills begin to rise, which ultimately compose a part of the great chain of the Andes; or rather they are parts of the high mountains which run north and south about twenty leagues to the eastward of Lima. These mountains gradually descend to the sea coast, producing between each row beautiful and fertile valleys, of which the Rimac is one. ”

“ Immediately on the shock being felt, a signal is given from the cathedral, and the long-measured ten-minute tollings of all the church bells summon the inhabitants to prayers.
Taking a comprehensive view of the whole coast of Peru, we perceive that Lima lies in one of those oases which break the continuity of the extensive sand-flats. These valleys present themselves wherever a river, after a short course from the Cordilleras, falls into the sea; they are always fan-shaped widenings of the mountain ravines. The valley of Lima lies in the widest extension of the Quebrada of Mutucamas. ”

“ The greatest extent of Lima is from east to west; from the Gate of Maravillas to the Monserrate. Between those two points the distance is 4471 varas, [6] or two-thirds of a Legua, or Spanish league; and the greatest breadth of the city, that is to say, from the Bridge (the suburb of San Lazaro not included) to the Gate of Guadalupe, is 2515 varas, or two-fifths of a Legua. The utmost circumference of Lima is about ten English miles. The plain on which the city is built, takes rather a decided slope from east to west. ”

“ Possibly in no other place in the world is there so much variety of complexion and physiognomy as in Lima. From the delicately fair creole daughter of European parents, to the jet black Congo negro, people of every gradation of color are seen living in intimate relation one with another. ”

“ Lima, the capital of Peru, on the banks of the Rimac eight miles from the port, Callao, is a city of picturesque charm. Its population, with its suburbs 200,000, is no indication of its commercial importance or of its elegance as a social centre. One of the three cities of the world where the best Spanish is spoken, some impartial critics say that in this respect it is unrivalled in the New World. Social amenities, everywhere important, are here peculiarly requisite for agreeable and successful business relations. ”

“ With an inheritance of legend, romance, and wealth that gives its history extraordinary charm, Lima, “The Thrice-crowned City,” enjoys the distinction of being the most renowned capital of Spanish America. For nearly three hundred years it was the “second metropolis” of the vast Spanish empire on two continents, and the centre of a viceregal court whose splendor and gayety vied with that of royalty itself. The legend of Rimac makes the site of this beautiful city the ancient abode of a revered pre-Incaic oracle ”

“ As the boats remain at Callao for a day the traveller is able to spend a few hours in the “City of the Kings,” as Pizarro christened it. Lima is a wonderfully interesting city, and its history is full of romance. It preserves in wood and stone the spirit of old Spain as it was transplanted into the New World. Carved balconies, which were patterned after their native Andalusia, still overhang the narrow streets of the Peruvian capital. [28] Up-to-date electric cars whirl past old monastery walls where life has scarcely changed in three centuries. ”

“ There being nothing to detain us in Callao, and the Oroya not leaving until the following day, we determined to pay Lima a visit, and taking tickets at four reales each, a twenty minutes’ ride brought us to the capital of Peru. It is situated at the foot of the hills which, all along the Peruvian coast, run sometimes close to the sea, and at others recede somewhat inland, leaving a sandy plain from their slopes seawards. On one of these plains Lima is built. Entering the city, the European-like look of the shops is the first thing that claims attention ”

“ The population of Lima, Callao, and many of the seaboard Peruvian towns is composed of Aryans, Indians, Hamitics, and Mongolians, with a conglomerate mixture of all four races. In Lima, people with mixed white and Indian blood predominate; those of mixed white and negro blood are a close second. The aristocracy and better-to-do classes are white and are descended from the Spaniards. They do not marry outside of their own race and constitute the ruling element. There is a large Italian colony, many of whose male members are leading merchants and professional men. ”

“ It is here that the water-carriers (aguadores) load their mules with barrels, attach a bell to a hoop, and mount behind their liquid merchandise.
This square is therefore noisy from morning till evening, and when the stars of night rise above the snowy summits of the Cordilleras, the tumult of the élite of Lima equals the matinal hubbub of the merchants.
Nevertheless, when the oracion (evening angelus) sounds from the bell of the cathedral, all this noise suddenly ceases; to the clamor of pleasure succeeds the murmur of prayer ”

“ The nights beneath tropical latitudes are very beautiful and very clear; they mysteriously prepare that beneficent dew which fertilizes a soil exposed to the rays of a cloudless sky—so the inhabitants of Lima prolong their nocturnal conversations and receptions; household labors are quietly finished in the dwellings refreshed by the shadows, and the streets are soon deserted ”

“ Lima is the capital of Peru, and derives its name from Rimac, which original name its river still retains; but the valley was called by the indians Rimac Malca, or the place of witches; it being the custom among the aborigines, even before the establishment of the theocrasia of the Incas, as well as during their domination, to banish to this valley those persons who were accused of witchcraft. ”

“ Two trains daily each way carry passengers between Lima and Matucana; many travellers bound for the sierra stop on their way to enjoy a night’s rest at this healthful resort before beginning the sharp ascent to the summit of the Andean range. The air is fresh and cool, 199and one rarely suffers from soroche at this altitude. In summer, all Lima society deserts the capital to live at Chorillos, Miraflores, Barranco, Magdalena, La Punta, Ancón, or some other of the bathing resorts in its vicinity. ”

“ The best position for viewing Lima—Asmodeus-like—is from the high tower of San Domingo, that is, if, after mounting above the bells, you can reconcile the flimsy quaking fabric you stand upon to any extreme ideas of personal safety. The devil on this pair of sticks could not have chosen a more eligible spot for inspecting the arcana of people's dwellings. The city is spread like a map at your feet ”

“ However, when all the fable and fancy are winnowed out, the facts remaining are enough to make any red-blooded adventurer yearn to charter a rakish schooner and muster a crew of kindred spirits.
During the last days of Spanish rule on the west coast of South America, the wealthiest city left of that vast domain won by the Conquistadores and held by the Viceroys, was Lima, the capital of Peru. Founded in 1535 by Francisco Pizarro, it was the seat of the government of South America for centuries. ”

“ So that to-day there are temples and joss-houses and opium dens in Lima, and men in “European” dress, who are not Europeans, lean in the doorways of old colonial mansions transformed into Oriental shops. The Chinese of Lima occupy a wider field of activity than almost anywhere else in the Western hemisphere. ”

“ In appearance and style, the Lima of the viceroyalty has been compared with Seville, except that its streets were broader and straighter than those of the Andalusian metropolis, and showed signs of greater activity. As the capital of the republic, the city has grown larger, more modern in appearance, and more western in atmosphere ”

“ An old vessel, filled with stones, sand, and rubbish of all sorts, was wrecked on the shore; piles of the mangrove-tree, brought from Guayaquil and impervious to water, were driven around this as a centre, which became the immovable base on which rose the mole of Callao.
The climate, milder and more temperate than that of Carthagena or Bahia, situated on the opposite side of America, makes Lima one of the most agreeable cities of the New World: the wind has two directions from which it never varies; either it blows from the south-east, and becomes cool by crossing the Pacific Ocean ”

“ The railways and mines of Peru are mostly in the hands of men from the United States, shipping business in the hands of Englishmen and Germans, retail trade in those of Frenchmen, Spaniards, and others from continental Europe. But the people of Lima may answer that there are more ways than one of being happy. They enjoy life in their own way, with more civil freedom, and very much more religious freedom, than under the Viceroys, and occasional revolutions—now less sanguinary than they used to be—are better than a permanent rule of inquisitors and officials sent from Spain. ”

“ In November 1864, when a hostile Spanish fleet was on the coast, a congress of South American plenipotentiaries was held here to concert measures of mutual defence. Lima has been the principal sufferer in the many revolutions and disorders which have convulsed Peru under the republic, and many of them originated in the city itself. ”

“ Liliuran, to take turn and turn about; to work alternate turns. To help a neighbour with any work in order to have the same assistance in return.
Lima, the number five. In the languages of the Pacific, Lima is the word for the hand, and no doubt indicates the origin of Lima as the numeral 5 from the fingers of the hand. Though the word no longer exists in this sense on Sumatra or Java, still Lima is hand on Bali, Imê on Lombok, Lima in Bugis, Limei in the Aroo Isles, and Liman on Kissa, one of the Serwatty group to the eastward of Timor. ”

“ No old stager in Lima hears of a political or domestic altercation, or of any serious movement that causes a stir and sensation in the city, but he immediately inquires what woman can be at the bottom of this bullanga or hubbub ”