chandeliers, sofas, &c. Some good paintings were on the walls, and, amongst them, two portraits; one full-length of General San Martin, and the other, according to an inscription, that of his excellency "El Almirante Christoval Colon." Three or four persons, in military garb, were lounging in an alcove at the upper end of the room, near a window overlooking the street on the north.

The aid soon returned, and led the way through a drawing-room richly furnished in crimson and gold, to the cabinet of the chieftain. He was seated on a sofa on one side as we entered, but rose till the whole number had been presented; then, placing Commodore Thompson on the sofa beside him, commenced a conversation, while chairs were placing round for the rest of us. He is a small man, of thin habit, and apparently in ill-health; his complexion, eyes, hair, and mustaches, dark, with a mild and intelligent countenance, and unassuming manners. He speaks Spanish only. Conversation turned principally on the object of Commodore Thompson's arrival, the relief of Commodore Jones, and the complimentary welcome incident to it; upon language, and the comparative ease with which Spanish, French, and English, are acquired, &c. &c.

Having understood that he had been particularly indisposed the preceding evening, the commodore made his call short, and we soon took leave.

The ante-room, as we left, was beginning to fill with officers, assembling to pay their morning court. Mr. Radcliffe, intimating that it might gratify the party to see the principal reception room, now called the hall of independence, we were shown into it. It occupies nearly the whole length of the corridor by which we approached the ante-room, and opens upon it by a succession of large windows. It is a fine, elevated apartment, near one hundred and fifty feet in length, and about thirty wide---the ball-room

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of the castle in the time of the viceroys, and now the inaugural chamber; and the apartment in which the heads of government receive the congratulations of the citizens on the anniversary of the independence of Peru.

A chair of state, of classic and beautiful pattern, occupies the head of the room. This was the throne of the viceroys; and has changed its name only, its place and use being the same as under the royal government. A large allegorical painting hangs against the wall, immediately over it. The principal figure represents the genius of Peru, in the costume of the Incas; consisting of a tunic of yellow, drawn closely round the neck with short sleeves, and a girdle at the waist. A mantle of crimson, tied in a knot upon the chest, flows behind, from the shoulders; while sandals on the feet, and a band of gold around the head, surmounted by a coronet of feathers, complete the dress.

A canopy of red and white silk, the national colours, with draperies of the same colours intertwined, spreads over both the picture and chair of state. The only other furniture of the room, besides a carpet, is a brilliant line of glass chandeliers through the centre of the ceiling, and an uninterrupted succession of sofas of scarlet around the walls.

LETTER XIX.

FESTIVAL OF THE AMANCAISE.

Lima, June 25, 1829.

THE Amancaise, an annual festival celebrated at Lima on the 24th of June, occurred yesterday.

It is something similar to our "May-day;" the occasion of it being the height of bloom, at that time, of a flower peculiar to Peru, called "the Amancaise;" to gather which, the citizens of every class,

in the afternoon of the day, hasten, as to a gala, to a spot in the vicinity of the city, deriving its name, as well as the festival itself, from the flower, because found in a greater abundance there than in any other place.

After an early dinner with Mr. Radcliffe, our party, principally on horseback, set off. It was with difficulty that a sufficient number of horses could be secured, as every animal of the name and similitude, in the city, is put in requisition at this time, if at no other during the year.

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We left the city by a new and handsome gate on the north, a few rods only from the public square, opening directly on the bridge running across the river Rimac, which, at this point, flows along the walls. At this season of the year the stream is shallow and insignificant; the whole bed of the river, hundred yards and more in width, presenting only a mass of dry gravel, intersected, in two or three places, by small rivulets, purling like so many brooks in their pebbly courses. But in the summer of this latitude, when the snow and ice in the Andes, fifty or sixty miles distant, are melted, a torrent, of immense magnitude and force, is poured down the same channel, exhibiting, at times, a grand and fearful sight, as it rushes through the arches of the bridge, in a depth of thirty or forty feet.

On this account, the bridge, of brown free-stone, is necessarily very substantial and lofty, and is a strong and well-looking piece of architecture. Beyond it lies a large suburb; after passing which, we entered a regularly-planted and beautiful almeda, or avenue, a favourite promenade of the Limanians, and similar to that already described at the entrance of the city from Callao.

After passing the almeda, we entered a narrow winding, and sandy road, enclosed on either side by high mud-walls, and completely filled by parties in

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carriages, on horseback, and on foot, gazing at each other, and interchanging looks and bows of cheerfulness and hilarity. In the number were persons of every class of society, from the highest to the lowest, and of every shade and colour, from the fairest Briton to the deepest ebony of the African tribes.

At the end of two miles we found ourselves close to the wild and naked hills encircling Lima on the north and east, and immediately in front of a gorge between two of these, terminating at the distance of half a mile against the steep acclivity of a third. The whole were bare as volcanic ashes and sand can make them, except where the bloom of the flower, which had called the crowds together, exhibited here and there a tinge of yellow, (for this was the "Amancaise," the spot of our visit,) and over the precipitous sides of which, small parties were already scattered; and even horsemen, at the seeming hazard of their necks, clambering to points fitted apparently only for the footing of the goat or the chamois.

The general appearance of the multitude, at the distance first seen, was that of a field in America at a general militia-muster, or of a race-course in the sporting sections of the land; and a nearer view, save in the variety of colour and novelty of costume, did not lessen the resemblance. There was the same bustle and hum of laugh and talk, the same pressing and hurrying from one place to another, the confused sounds of musical instruments in different directions, and the loud and coarse mirth of the booth and the stall.

On either side of the way were carriages drawn by mules, with a postilion and footman, and filled with ladies and children in rich evening dress; around these, groups of genteel-looking horsemen were gathered in gay conversation and laughter, while within a few rods on every side, might be seen

thronged circles, in the midst of which negroes and negresses, in as full dress as their masters and mistresses, were dancing to music scarce less rude than that heard within the kraals of their aboriginal country. Indeed, both the figures thus danced, and the music, if such it can be called, are African in their origin, and introduced by the slaves; and though thus of necessity heathenish and vulgar, I am told that they are not unfrequently danced in the ballrooms of the first society in the country.

Every person was decorated with the Amancaise, and clusters of the flowers were placed in the bridles and harness of the horses, as well as in the hats and head-dress of the riders.

The head of the valley commands a striking and fine view of Lima three miles distant. The intervening ground being lower than that on which the city stands, and containing numerous gardens and fruit-yards, besides the groves of the almeda, presents a verdant foreground-an advantage not enjoyed in any other point from which I had before viewed it, to the walls, towers, and turrets, of the capital, stretching in a long line beyond, with no little show of magnitude and splendour, as seen on the horizon in strong delineation against the sky. It is said to be the finest prospect of the city that the environs afford. Some of the adjoining hills, six and seven hundred feet in height, give a more bird's eye view, but, at the same time, disclose so much of the mud roofs, shabby appurtenances of the houses, and numerous marks of poverty and decay stamped upon the whole, as greatly to detract from the effect which would otherwise be produced.

On remounting, we rode to a rancho, or booth, for the purpose of tasting a common drink of the country, called "chichi." It is made from new corn ground, and tastes much like the beer at a distillery of whiskey, after fermentation, and before distillation