e
women of Lima--Their Costume--The _Saya y Manto_--Female domestic
life--Love of dress--Beatas--Indians--Slaves--Bosales--Free
Creoles--Negroes--Negresses--Black Creoles--Their
varieties--Mestizos--Mulattoes--Palanganas--Zambos--Chinos--Foreigners
in Lima--Corruption of the Spanish language.

Proceeding from the shell to the kernel, we will now take a glance at
the inhabitants of the capital of Peru: first, surveying the native in
his fatherland, and next, the foreign settler in his adopted country.

The population of Lima has at various periods undergone remarkable
fluctuations. In the year 1764 the number of the inhabitants was stated
to be 54,000; in 1810, 87,000; in 1826, 70,000; in 1836, 54,600; and in
1842, 53,000. Of most of these estimates I entertain some degree of
distrust, as they are merely founded on general calculations, and are
not the results of careful numbering. Certain it is, however, that the
population of Lima has very considerably decreased since the declaration
of independence. This is sufficiently proved by the fact that several
parts of the city are now totally uninhabited: the houses falling to
decay, and the gardens lying waste.

The cause of this diminished population is easily explained by the
physical and political condition of the country. Earthquakes have, at
various times, buried thousands of people beneath the ruins of their own
dwellings; the war of independence was attended by vast sacrifices of
life; banishment and voluntary emigration have removed from Lima the
families of some of the principal citizens; and epidemic disease, the
natural consequence of defective police regulations, has swept away
countless multitudes of the inhabitants. The number of new settlers is
very inconsiderable; and for several past years the number of deaths
has nearly doubled that of the births. There appears no reason to doubt
that this decrease of population will continue; because, as will
presently be seen, the causes to which it is assignable cannot be
checked, inasmuch as they are intimately blended with the character of
the nation. Most of these causes operate not only in the capital, but
over the whole country; indeed, in the latter their influence is in some
instances much greater; for example, in the interior of Peru the loss of
life attendant on the war was relatively much greater than in Lima. This
favored country, which extends from the 3d to the 22d degree of south
latitude, and which co