(a
brandy shop), or a spice shop, and gradually extend their traffic until,
in the course of a few years, they amass money enough to return to their
native country. Some of them make good fortunes and possess extensive
warehouses.

The French in Lima occupy the same positions as their countrymen in
Valparaiso, viz., they are tailors and hair-dressers, dealers in
jewellery and millinery.

The English and North Americans, who are much better liked by the
natives than the French, are chiefly merchants. They are the heads of
the principal commercial houses, as Gibbs, Grawley & Co., Alsop & Co.,
Templeman and Bergmann, Huth, Cruening & Co., &c. The enterprising
spirit of the English and North Americans has led many of them into
extensive mining speculations, which in some instances have proved
very unfortunate.

The Germans in Lima are proportionally few. They are distinguished by
their aptitude for business, and many of them fill high stations in the
great English commercial houses. They are held in high esteem by the
natives. The general gravity of their manners has given rise, among the
Limenos, to the saying, "_Serio como un Aleman_"--Serious as a German.

Settlers from the other American republics have of late years
considerably increased in Lima. After the Chilian expedition, many
Chilenos established themselves in Peru, and numbers of Argentinos,
escaping from the terrorism of Rosas in Buenos Ayres, have taken refuge
in Lima.

Foreigners being in general more industrious and more steady than the
Creoles, the Limenos readily form connexions with them. The ladies
generally prefer marrying a _Gringo_[29] to a _Paisanito_.[30]

I may close this chapter on the inhabitants of Lima, with some remarks
on the Spanish language as spoken in the capital of Peru. The old
Spaniards, who brought their various dialects into the New World, retain
them there unchanged. The Galician transposes the letters _g_ and _j_;
the Catalonian adds an _s_ to the final syllables of words, and gives a
peculiarly harsh sound to the letter _j_; the Andalusian rolls the _r_
over his tongue, and imparts a melodious expression even to
harsh-sounding words; the Biscayan mingles a variety of provincialisms
with his own peculiar dialect. The Madrileno (native of Madrid) prides
himself here, as well as in Europe, in being far superior to the rest of
his countrymen in elegance of pronunciation. The Creoles, however, have
gradually dropped the characte