SHOPS IN THE PLAZA.

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beads of a rosary, or to the repetition of an Ave Maria;" while those from more enlightened lands, who know better than to trust for a blessing to the efficacy of these, in too many instances there is reason to believe, waste the moment in idle gaze, or in an apprehension if the air be damp, of taking cold from the exposure of their heads.

LETTER XX.

NATIONAL MUSEUM, INQUISITORIAL Court, and pRIVATE MANSIONS IN THE CITY.

Lima, June 26th, 1829.

A HANDSOME brass fountain occupies the centre of the plaza, and formerly must have been highly ornamental to it; but like almost every thing else public and private in the city, it is now in decay, and destitute of

water.

The chief attraction of the square, at present, is the exhibition made by the shopkeepers of their various wares, not only in small apartments under the arcades along the south and west sides, but more particularly in booths and temporary stalls, in front of the others on the square itself, which are put up, and their contents arranged for display, in the morning, and taken down again, and the goods all removed, in the evening.

After breakfast I spent an hour in sauntering among these, and in a walk through the principal market in

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MARKET AND MUSEUM.

an adjoining street. or fixtures, and all the articles contained in it, fish, vegetables, fruit, and meat, are exposed on either side of the way according to the taste and choice of the seller. The persons in attendance on the customers were exclusively Indians, and principally females, seated with their children on the ground.

For this last there is no building

Under the guidance of Mr. Prevost I afterwards visited the building occupied by the Inquisition previous to its abolition here. A part of it is now used as a common jail, and another as a barrack; while the principal rooms are appropriated as a national museum, collecting under the patronage of Don Rivero, an intelligent and scientific Peruvian, educated in Europe, and at present director of the mint.

It was our expectation to have met this gentleman in the museum, but we were disappointed; and a secretary showed us the collection. It is small, and as yet, of little interest or value. The cabinet of minerals is best filled, but not rich in its exhibition, even of the gold and silver ores of the country. In each corner of the principal room, in a glass case, is a mummy or body, in a state of preservation as excavated from the ancient burial places of the Indians, and still retaining the attitude and dress of interment. The bandages and grave clothes are of cotton cloth, of a fine texture, and still bright and unfaded in color. The dryness of the atmosphere and soil is such in this climate, that decomposition does not take place under a very long period; and it is, probably, many hundred years since these ghastly forms were living and moving actors in the theatre of life.

Among the articles of aboriginal curiosity is the

ABORIGINAL CURIOSITIES.

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sceptre of the Incas; and a variety of curiously modeled and tasteful water vessels and drinking cups, some of them ornamented with gilding, proving the skill and attainment of the primitive inhabitants in the manufacture of earthenware. Within a very short time a golden cup was found in some excavations making, which is said to be the finest specimen of ancient workmanship at present known. It is kept in a private drawer, of which Don Rivero had the key, and I could not be gratified with a sight of it; but Mr. Prevost, who has seen it, informs me that it is even exquisitely wrought.

A set of bows and arrows, taken within the last fortnight, were pointed out to us. They belonged to a party of Indians, who, on being surprised in the mountains by a company from the coast, fled and left them. The native tribes, beyond the distance of sixty and seventy miles from the seaboard, have never been in subjection to foreigners. Early witnesses of the oppression and cruelty suffered by their neighbors of the plains, they have ever kept themselves intrenched in the fastnesses of the mountains; and have not only perseveringly rejected every overture to intercourse on the part of the whites, but invariably put to death all messengers sent among them, including several sets of priests, who, at different periods, have undertaken the perilous enterprise. This is not surprising, when we recollect that in too many instances, the contact of the Spaniards with their fellows proved destructive, and their friendship death.

The chief room in the museum is the former judgment-hall of the inquisitorial court; a long and lofty apartment, with a rich and beautifully carved ceiling

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INQUISITORIAL JUDGMENT HALL.

of cedar. One of the cells for the confinement of the prisoners was shown to us. It communicates directly with the hall, and probably is that which was appropriated to the prisoner immediately under trial. We entered it by two low doors, of most massive thickness, the first of heavy plank only, but the second strongly secured with iron, and completely studded with the heads of enormous bolts. The rusty locks and ponderous bars were moved with difficulty, while the doors, as they were turned, groaned on their hinges, as if in ́memory of the wretchedness they had imposed on the innocent and the good.

The cell is twelve feet by six, and eight or ten feet high, with a floor of stone and a small heavily grated opening in one corner near the top, admitting, besides fresh air, a few rays of feeble and imperfect light.

This branch of the inquisition is said to have been lenient in its character. Imprisonment generally arose from a desire to extort money only, which, when furnished, procured liberty for the captive. Torture was never resorted to; though in one instance heresy, as a departure from the belief and practices of the church of Rome, is termed, led to the tragic exhibition of an auto de fe. The victim was a female. Friends and misguided zealots, having vainly strove

"Back from her faith her steadfast soul to woo,
That life might yet be hers,"

doomed her to the dread alternate of a living funeral pyre, in the groves of the Northern Almeda.

"And swift and high

The arrowy pillars of the fire-light grew,

Till the transparent darkness of the sky

STYLE OF BUILDING.

Flush'd to a blood-red mantle in their hue;
And phantom-like, the kindling city seem'd
To spread, float, wave, as on the wind they stream'd.

"What heard ye then?-A wringing shriek of pain,
Such as forever haunts the tortured ear ?—
I heard a sweet and solemn breathing strain,
Piercing the flames, untremulous and clear!
It was a fearful yet a glorious thing,

To hear that hymn of martyrdom, and know
That its glad stream of melody could spring

Up from the unsounded gulfs of human wo!"

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To Mr. Prevost also, I was indebted for a personal introduction to a family of rank, to whom I had brought letters from Mr. Tudor. The Moorish style of building, introduced from Spain by the original founders of the city, is universal in the establishments of the higher orders of society. It consists of a square pile of one or two stories, inclosing a large area, or quadrangle, in the centre. This is surrounded by piazzas, with which all the rooms communicate both on the ground and upper floors, where there is a second story. An inner court or second quadrangle is very common also, and sometimes even a third; so that the mansions cover a large space, and are often very extensive.

The entrance, generally, is by a lofty and massive portal, like the gateway of a castle; and which when closed affords, like the portcullis, security in a degree against the approach of all danger from without: an advantage, which has been found of no trifling importance in the years of commotion and turmoil, through which the city has of late passed. The ground floor, where there are two stories, is usually appropriated to the stables, carriage houses, kitchens, offices, &c., while the saloons and chambers of the family are above.