_From the Memoirs of General Miller, Second Edition._
In the Pampas, where a scarcity of food is unknown to the poorest, that
calculating avarice which, in its fears for to-morrow, would look with
apathy on the wants of the stranger, can have but a limited sway. Kind
offices are, therefore more freely and disinterestedly conferred than
in less abundant regions. In addition to this, the dearth of society
in a thinly-sprinkled population renders the presence of a traveller
on their isolated _haciendas_ a source of gratification. If his
appearance afford no ground for mistrust, and if his manners are not
disagreeable, his being a stranger is a sufficient passport to a kind
and hearty welcome. Whether he be rich or poor is not a subject of
inquiry, and makes no difference in the reception.
The South Americans are gay, and fond of dancing, music, and singing.
There are few, whether wealthy or otherwise, who are not proficients in
one or other of these accomplishments. In the warmer latitudes, people
carry on not only their usual occupations, but their amusements, chiefly
in the open air; and as singing constitutes one of the principal sources
of the latter, the continued exercise of the voice harmonizes and
strengthens it. Perhaps no opera, in Europe, could afford, to a natural
and unsophisticated ear, so rich a treat as that which may be enjoyed in
Cuzco, Arequipa, and other cities, where the ancient Peruvian airs are
sung in the rich and melodious tones of the natives.
The South Americans possess great intellectual quickness, and a
retentive memory. The following may be cited as an extraordinary
instance of the latter faculty. An old man, a native of La Pax, in Upper
Peru, and of unmixed Indian blood, who kept an inn at Curicavi, between
Valparaiso and Santiago, could repeat nearly the whole of Robertson's
"History of Charles the Fifth," and was better acquainted with the
History of England than most Englishmen. He spoke of Queen Boadicea, and
was as familiar with the history of the civil wars between the houses
of York and Lancaster as if they had occurred in his country, and in
his own times. He had been brought up by the Jesuits. He had made two
voyages to Canton, and was known by the name of "the emperor of China,"
in consequence frequently of amusing his guests with long stories about
the _celestial empire_.
The Peruvians have great natural talents for painting and sculpture.
They generally produce striking likenesses, but being uninstructed in
the principles of these arts, their pictures have no other merit. There
is, however, a female figure, done in 1711, by a native of Quito, which
is considered as one of the finest paintings in a very good collection
belonging to Mynheer Vandermarlin, of Brussels.
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