LIMA
Although the chapters of this book are supposed to treat only of the
southern republics of South America, it would nevertheless be a shame
not to mention Lima and the Peruvian hinterland, therefore this and the
following chapter.
Callao, the port of Lima, where the ships anchor, has a population of
forty-five thousand. It is here that one first gets an idea of genuine
Peruvian architecture. The two and three storied houses, many of which
are adorned by steeples and towers, invariably have enclosed wooden
balconies projecting from the second floor over the street, giving
the touch of old Stamboul or other oriental cities. It is difficult
to conjecture the origin of these balconies. The Moorish style of
architecture which the Spaniards copied and brought to their colonies
was plain, with bare outside walls and few windows. This Turkish style
seen by many tourists for the first time in their lives at Callao is
that which predominates in Central Peru and is also prevalent to a
certain extent as far south as Tacna.
In Callao there is but little to interest the stranger. As in most
seaports, tough characters abound, and there is a bevy of saloons; but
unlike most seaports, Callao is comparatively clean, especially the
show places. It has a large church, a few pleasant plazas, and some
marble statues. In reputation it is one of the toughest towns in the
world; it formerly was the jumping-off place for criminals and the
tales of shanghaiing and murders that took place here not so many years
back would fill volumes.
[Illustration: Callao Harbor]
The harbor is landlocked by the mainland, a sandy point, and the
mountainous island of San Lorenzo. The port works of stone are the best
on the whole Pacific Coast but at the present time no ships anchor at
them. This is due to the prevalence of bubonic plague (occasionally
a few sporadic cases) which can be transmitted to the passengers
and crews through the medium of rats. A reason more vital to the
municipality for not allowing the ships to anchor at the docks is that
of providing employment for the _fleteros_, or boatmen, who earn a few
soles by rowing people and baggage to and from the ships. In the harbor
are two Peruvian men-of-war. They have lain there several years. Their
boilers are defective and their machinery needs repairing, but nothing
is ever done to make them seaworthy. I saw the admiral in a street car.
He is a big, fat fellow with about a fifty-three inch waist line, and
resplendent with gold braid. From the servile humility of the conductor
and the passengers towards him, one might judge that he ranked with von
Tirpitz and I have no doubt but that he entertained the same opinion of
himself.
Lima is about five miles distant inland from Callao, to which city
it is connected by a trolley and two railway lines. The former,
double-tracked, runs in a straight line through a decidedly Athenian
landscape. On all sides are green fields, olive groves, black hills,
and whitish soil. The air, odor, and decisive clearness of the
atmosphere is Attic; the style of the country houses, nature of the
crops, and appearance of the live stock is analogous to that of Attica.
On the south side of the main road are two large country seats that
would grace any rural scene; they are the residences of the Italian
families Castagnone and Nosiglia, and are set back at some distance
from the turnpike.
The population of Lima, Callao, and many of the seaboard Peruvian
towns is composed of Aryans, Indians, Hamitics, and Mongolians, with
a conglomerate mixture of all four races. In Lima, people with mixed
white and Indian blood predominate; those of mixed white and negro
blood are a close second. The aristocracy and better-to-do classes are
white and are descended from the Spaniards. They do not marry outside
of their own race and constitute the ruling element. There is a large
Italian colony, many of whose male members are leading merchants and
professional men. Far outnumbering the whites are the various hues of
mixed breeds, Indians, negroes, and Chinese, which form the rabble. The
cholo is a scion of an Indian and a white person, while a _chino-cholo_
is the offspring of a Chinaman and an Indian. To get a good idea
of Peruvian mixture as applied to the lower walks of society (which
constitute all the classes not belonging to the white race, and which
greatly predominate), one can take the following genealogical tree as
an example. A white man marries a squaw which we can designate as union
A. A Chinaman marries a negress; we can call this union B. The progeny
of union A marries the progeny of union B, which is union C. The result
is a child which has blood one fourth white, one fourth black, one
fourth Indian, and one fourth Chinese. Although mixtures like this are
uncommon, they nevertheless exist, but it is of great commonness for a
person to have the blood of three of these races.
These mixtures diminish the intellect and decrease the vitality of the
offspring, who are invariably inferior to the pure bloods, even if the
pure blood is Indian or negro. The children of these marriages inherit
few of the good qualities of their parents, but all of their vices. The
cholos, proud of their white blood, tyrannize over the poor Indians and
subject them to indignities and cruelties such as were never practiced
in slavery times by their Spanish masters. These same cholos cringe
like curs before the white man. Their natural disposition is good,
excepting that they have the trait of dreadfully abusing and misusing
the poor Indians. The Chinese, of which there are thirty thousand in
the provinces of Callao and Lima, have not intermarried with the other
races so much as the other three mentioned ones. They are lawabiding
and quiet, but the mixed offspring from them is deficient in good
qualities. The worst of all races in Peru is the offspring of the negro
and the cholo. The result is a progeny that is downright bad. It is
these that constitute the riotous mobs that murder and hurl missiles
every time there is an abortive or a genuine revolution. They do not
know what the row is about, yet they want to participate in it for
the main love of wickedness. I saw a crowd of this degenerate gentry,
evidently "egged on" by some political opponent, hurl legumes and
bricks at the brother of ex-President Leguia when he was leaving the
Doric-columned Senate Building. One of these bricks severely injured
a stranger, and I, an unconscious spectator, had a white duck suit
discolored by unsavory hen fruit. The Limeno bootblacks are recruited
from this class, and as a rule when they are not shining shoes or
up to some deviltry, they stand around the booths singing in an
undertone obscene stanzas of their own composition to attentive dregs
of humanity. The "buck-niggers" and their families, of untarnished
ebony hue, originally migrated into Peru from Jamaica. They do not make
bad citizens, but their population is fast diminishing, their numbers
becoming assimilated with the other races.
[Illustration: Puente Vieja, Lima, as Seen from the Bed of the Rimac]
There is considerable material for argument relative to the origin
of the name of the Peruvian metropolis, which nobody seems to have
taken the pains to unravel. Lima was founded January 18, 1535, by Don
Francisco Pizarro. It was granted its charter and received its seal by
a royal decree of Charles V. of Spain, December 7, 1537, under the name
of the Most Noble and Very Loyal City of Kings. The name Lima, which
the stranger is erroneously told is a corruption of the word Rimac
(the name of the river which divides the modern city), was said to be
the name of the Indian village which had its center where the capitol
building now stands; owing to the shortness of its name, it superceded
the longer title given to it by the Spanish king. Many of the Spanish
conquistadores named cities which they founded in the new world after
cities in Spain from which they hailed. Thus Trujillo in Peru is named
after Trujillo in Spain, Pizarro's birthplace. There is a town named
Valladolid in Yucatan, a city named Cartagena in Colombia, a Cordóba
in Argentina, and a Linares in Chile. All of these places were named
after places of the same name in the Iberian Peninsula. Likewise there
is a Lima in Spain. It may be that the capital of Peru was named after
it, and that the name of the Indian village is legend. To substantiate
this theory, there is a city in central Brazil named Lima which is an
old town. This Brazilian city would undoubtedly owe the origin of its
name to the same source as would Lima, Peru. There is a theory however
which would knock this out and that is one of my own. Lima, Spain, only
appears on the modern maps of that country. It is a small town in Leon.
I have examined many maps and ancient geographies of Spain and do not
find it there, yet it is inconceivable that Lima, Spain, would be named
after Lima, Peru.
[Illustration: Calle Huallaga, Lima]
The variety of large bean which at home we are accustomed to call the
Lima bean is not a native of this place. Their origin is a town named
Ica, which is about a hundred miles southeast of Lima, and in Peru it
is called the Ica bean.
Lima is divided into two uneven parts by the Rimac River, which is
spanned by two traffic bridges, the Puente Vieja, commonly known as
the Stone Bridge, and the Puente Balta, by a railroad bridge, and by
a temporary footbridge. The Rimac is a swiftly flowing, transparent
stream, which jumps over cascades and has a considerable volume of
water for a mountain stream. Its bed is not well defined as it contains
many small islands and gravel bars. At the stone bridge it is kept
within bounds. The river furnishes irrigation for the whole valley in
which the capital is situated and could even be made to furnish more
since much of its volume of water goes to waste. This is a crime on
account of its scarcity.
[Illustration: Plaza Italia, Lima. Vendors of Bread]
Lima should not be passed without a week's sojourn by any visitor
to the west coast of South America, whether he is a professor,
antiquarian, commercial traveler, or ordinary tourist. No other city in
the Western Hemisphere retains in so marked a degree its medievalism,
yet no other city on the west coast of South America is so advanced
in modernity. Luxury rubs shoulders with poverty; there are numerous
palaces and also countless hovels. The great churches, all Roman
Catholic, bear testimony by their superb interiors to the lavishness of
devotion. In the shop windows are displayed the silver ornaments and
utensils of Cuzco and Cajamarca; next door to them are presented the
baubles and gewgaws of New York and Paris.
[Illustration: Plazuela de la Inquisicion, Lima]
The population is estimated at two hundred thousand which is probably
nearly correct. The city is very compactly built and centered so that
its streets teem with more life than an ordinary city of the same
number of inhabitants. Although its population is but half that of
Santiago, this centralization makes it appear to be a larger place.
The buildings, two, three, and four stories in height, are massive,
although many are built of adobe, plastered and painted over, and give
the city a metropolitan appearance. In Santiago many of the merchants
and well-to-do inhabitants live in the suburbs; in Lima they reside
near the center of the city. During the past few years, the Peruvian
capital has made great strides in civic improvement. The main streets
are now paved with stone; they were formerly paved with sharp pebbles.
They are kept clean, which is a great contrast to the dusty offal which
formerly littered them and which in powdered form assailed the eyes
and nostrils of the pedestrians every time a gust of wind arose. The
equipages for the transportation of passengers are superior to those
of Santiago and the street car service, although not frequent enough,
is better than that of the Chilean capital. There has also been much
recent building going on, the new edifices being of modern European
design.
Standing in the Hotel Maury one day I was introduced to a prominent
Lima business man named Arthur Field, who was born there. He kindly
offered to show me the city in his automobile. I told him that I was
already acquainted with Lima, having made previous visits there.
"I am so glad," said he; "most tourists go away with such a poor
impression of Lima, and some go away after a short sojourn and write
most uncomplimentary things about it, which hurts it. Ambassador Bryce
spoke very illy of Lima, and he was only here for a few days. There
is to my knowledge only one book written recently which gives a true
description of the city. It was written by a namesake of yours, a
man named Stephens. My wife and my friends have read it, and they all
pronounce it as true."
I did not tell him that I wrote the book, but another man in the group,
an American, spotted me for its author from the frontispiece in it,
which has my likeness. This last-mentioned man went home that noon,
and verified his suspicions by again looking at the frontispiece. That
afternoon he procured his copy of the book and started to the Hotel
Maury to congratulate me. On the way he got gloriously drunk, and in
an inebriated condition he showed the paragraph where I mentioned the
Hotel Maury to one of its proprietors. Since I had spoken poorly of
the establishment in it (it had improved decidedly since I was there
before) I thought the result would be a request for me to change
quarters. The proprietor could speak no English and judging that the
talk of the American was due to an excess of _batida_ bitters and John
de Kuyper paid no attention to the subject.
[Illustration: Boulevard in Lima]
A bad feature about Lima is that the same street has a different
name for each block. This was the old Spanish custom and it makes it
necessary for the visitor to buy a plan of the city to memorize the
nomenclatures of the principal blocks. In recent years the municipality
has tried to remedy this custom by giving a street one single name, but
the old appellations still cling and probably always will. The Calle
Union, Lima's main street, is not so called by the ordinary native,
and its different blocks are known as Palacio, Portal de Escribanos,
Mercaderes, Espaderos, Merced, Baquijano, Boza, San Juan de Dios,
Belen, Juan Simon, and so forth. Its principal sector, Calle Huallaga,
is known respectively as Judios, Melchormalo, Virreina, Concepcion,
Presa, Lechugal, and San Andres.
Calle Union presents much life. It begins at the Plaza de Armas and
is about a mile long, terminating at the Zoölogical Gardens. On it is
the city hall, several theaters, the Merced church, the Forero palace,
and the penitentiary. It is the main retail street and is always much
crowded. Huallaga is a busy street with antiquarian shops, banks, and
wholesale offices. On it is the Hotel Central, the Bank of Peru and
London, the Concepcion market, the Concepcion church, and the police
headquarters.
The Concepcion market is the largest that I have ever seen. Its ground
area, covering a whole block, is about the same size as the Tacon
market in Havana, but it is higher. There are many queer vegetables,
herbs, and fruits offered for sale which are unknown in Europe or
in North America. The potato, whose origin is Peru, is sold in this
market, not in the raw state as in our markets, but desiccated. The
natives soak them in water, sun dry them, and put them for sale in
this fashion, for this way they will keep indefinitely. In the meat
department cats crawl over the loins and spare ribs while whippets
snap at fly-bedizened bones. I attempted to take a time exposure of the
place but a gawky overgrown boy walked in front of the camera, spoiling
the picture. A cuff on the ears from me which sent him spinning against
a basket of eggs nearly caused a small riot.
The Bank of Peru and London is the largest bank building in South
America. It is a three-story white structure built in a classical style
of architecture. There are several other large banks.
The Plaza de Armas lacks much of the charm of the plazas in the Chilean
cities. It is planted to palmetto trees, which I think always look out
of place outside of their wild native state. On the north side of this
square is the one-story-high capitol building. Somewhere in its patio
is the spot where Pizarro was murdered. The exact place is not known on
account of the many alterations that have taken place in the building.
His skeleton rests in a white marble sarcophagus in the cathedral.
This cathedral, whose stately and magnificent pile was described by
me in a previous book on South America, ranks as one of the largest
religious edifices in the world. Its twin towers, one at each side
of a broad façade, rise majestically into the heavens and are visible
from a great distance. Its spacious nave and aisles are crowned by a
ribbed roof, whose ceiling is painted in symmetrical designs in pink
and azure. Many mendicants loiter about the interior, and when the
sexton shows you Pizarro's skeleton, they all solicit alms for such
trivialities as holding the candle to view the remains, opening the
door of the chapel, and so forth. In the chapel where his remains
repose is an altar of pure silver brought from Cuzco.
[Illustration: Façade of San Augustin Church, Lima]
Lima, always the capital of the Spanish dominion in the New World,
and the seat of the Inquisition in South America, was and is still a
pillar of Catholicism. The plaza where the Senate building is located
is named the Plazuela de la Inquisicion; in its neighborhood were
perpetrated the barbarous tortures on heretics, written about in Vicuña
Mackenna's books. Joints were stretched by screws; ear holes were
filled with molten metal; writhing bodies to whose feet was tied an
iron hundredweight were hoisted by outstretched arms to the ceiling
by means of pulleys, the weight causing the body to tear in two at the
abdomen. The last of these barbarities took place in 1820. In Peru no
other religion but the Roman Catholic is recognized, although others
are tolerated. Watching a religious procession one day as it passed
through the streets of the city, a thirty-second-degree Mason turned to
me and said:
"A Mason has no more show in this town than a fly on fly-paper."
There are forty-eight large churches in Lima and twenty-two chapels.
The latter are large enough to be fair-sized churches in the United
States. The most aristocratic church is that of La Merced adjoining
the convent of the same name on the Calle Union. It has an opulent
interior. The nave is high and airy, and the air is laden with
frankincense. It is my favorite of all the Lima churches and I often
repaired thither to attend mass or for pious meditation. San Francisco
church is very rich; its architecture is Saracenic. Another fine church
is San Augustin. It has a marvelous sculptured façade. According
to the original plan, it was to have two towers but they have never
been added. It is here that the president takes his oath of office.
Other fine churches worthy of visit are San Domingo, San Pedro, and
Nazarenas, although many others present great interest.
[Illustration: Procession of the Milagro, Lima]
Easter week in Lima is an unforgettable event. Penitents, carrying
holy images, processions, and throngs of religious devotees fill the
streets. One of the pageants which has a touch of barbaric mingled
with Christianity is that of the Milagro. What gives it a touch of the
barbaric is the majority of negroes who take part in it. The trail of
the Milagro lies through the squalid streets in the part of the city
north of the Rimac. All the people officiating are garbed in purple
tunics. It is preceded by youths carrying gaudy lamps. Then follow
negro women, chanting dirges. A stranger looking at it for the first
time is apt to believe that it is a procession exorcising against the
plague for after the cantors come black Mary Magdalene's carrying
lighted hand braziers from which they blow great fumes of incense
smoke on the onlookers, nearly suffocating many by the intoxicating
fragrance. There is a brass band of purple-robed devotees playing
weird music followed by an image of the Saviour in an upright position
mounted on a metal platform. This image is adorned with wreaths,
flowers, and ribbons; before it is an altar with lighted candles. The
platform is very heavy and is borne by sixteen men, four on each side,
four in front, and four in back, who support its weight on their padded
shoulders on which rest beams. The procession is very slow, moving at
a snail's pace, and as it proceeds, the pageant sways with a peculiar
serpentine rhythm. On account of the weight of the image and its
accouterments, at every few yards the procession stops and the carriers
are relayed. Some of them faint under the strain. The expression on
the faces of the carriers is that of most reverend devotion; the light
of sanctity is in their eyes, and they walk as if in a trance. This
carrying of the image is a great honor, and the fortunate ones look
forward to it for a whole year. Following the image walked a priest,
his well-fed form protected from the sun by a canopy of cloth of gold
upheld on poles by six purple-clad boys. His expression was far from
being that of sanctity. Merciless and unrelentless, his face wore a
heartless and cold-blooded mien as if he were a graven image of stone.
Smug and self-centered, he appeared to be greatly contented with the
position he occupied, the cynosure of all eyes. When the procession
passed the Calle Trujillo, the main street of the section of Lima north
of the Rimac, street car and pedestrian traffic was stopped for half
an hour. As in all places, there was a crowd of procession followers.
As the pageant merely crawled along, many youths of this class regaled
themselves with libations of _pisco_ which is offered for sale every
few doors in that neighborhood. The consequence was that there were
many staggering steps among the spectators.
Lima is seen to its greatest advantage from the middle of the stone
bridge at dusk when the electric lights are being turned on or after
dark on a moonlight night from the same spot. The view is far superior
to that of Florence as seen from the Arno bridge. In the daytime the
masses of chrome-colored houses, churches, and towers, the teeming
street life, the trains arriving at and leaving Desamparados station
present the aspect of a metropolis both medieval and modern. At night
when the white moon rising above San Cristobal hill plays on the
ripples of the Rimac, and reflects on them the myriads of lights from
the windows, while in the distance the trees along the river bank cause
an inky blackness, is seen a picture beyond the scope of the greatest
artists.
The part of Lima north of the Rimac is much the smallest, but it is
the most thickly settled. It is the dirtiest part and is the favorite
abode of negroes and Chinamen; here street dogs of all descriptions
constantinopolize the thoroughfares, and when not basking on their
bellies on the sidewalks, they devour mule manure and snap at fleas.
This is the section of the city where the bubonic plague cases
sporadically occur, as well as being the section most poignant in
crime. It has a handsome parkway with statues, the Alameda de los
Descalzos, though it would be better located if it were south of
the river. On the north side are the two breweries, which with the
exception of two flour mills are Lima's sole factories. The breweries
are Backus & Johnston Company, Ltd., and Eduardo Harster's Piedra
Liza Brewery. Above the suburb of Piedra Liza rises San Cristobal hill
(altitude 1300 feet) which is 179 feet higher than the hill of the same
name at Santiago, Chile. Its summit is crowned by a wireless station of
the Telefunken.
In Lima there is only one hotel at which a North American or a European
can stop in comfort, the Maury. This hotel, owned by Angel Bertolotto
and leased to Visconti & Velasquez, is with the exception of some of
the Buenos Aires hotels the best in South America. Many of the rooms
have baths and are sumptuously furnished. The prices are high. This
Hotel Maury started with one building on the corner of Bodegones and
Villalta but when trade increased, it was necessary to acquire the
adjoining buildings, so that at the present time the caravanserai
extends the length of the whole block as far as the cathedral. It is
as intricate as a maze to find one's way about the upstairs corridors.
The ground floor is occupied with several tile-paved dining rooms, and
a large bar where congregate many of the foreign residents to enjoy
libations. The bartenders are good mixologists, but devote too much
of their time selling to tourists at usurious prices guide books and
views of Peru that they obtained for a song. When they are not doing
this they are busily engaged in drying orange peels that they fished
out of somebody's already consumed cocktail in order to have it in
proper condition to put into a cocktail ordered by the next customer.
The other hotels in Lima, impossible for the foreigner, are the delight
of the native-born population, as the Maury is too expensive for their
pocketbooks. There are many pastry and confectionery stores in Lima,
some being very good ones. These all sell ice cream and specialize
in preparing banquets. Many have ice manufacturing establishments in
connection with them. The best known are those named Arturo Field,
Broggi, Marron, and Parisienne.
The finest café on the west coast of America is the one in Lima named
Palais Concert and is owned by the Maury proprietors. It is modern
European, and is supposed to have a Viennese orchestra, none of whom,
however, hail from Austria. A popular restaurant is the Estrasburgo.
The peculiarity about it is the sacrilegious mural painting in it,
which strange to say is tolerated in this most fanatically religious
country. The painting is an advertisement of a French brandy firm. The
hideous corpse of Lazarus, with pointed chin and ears, coming to life,
is rising from a coffin, and with a sardonic grin on his face he is
eagerly stretching out his hand for a tumbler of brandy which is being
handed him by a bleached-out Christ, garbed in red, and with glistening
ringlets of peroxide colored hair. Christ is saying: "Arise, O Lazarus,
and drink this brandy!" This Estrasburgo is a favorite resort of Jews
in transit. They go there to view this picture, and when they see that
no Christian is present, nudge each other and say: "This is fine." The
Restaurant Berlin is a well furnished place on the Plateros de San
Pedro. This is all. There is no Berlin about it excepting the name,
although I understand that the proprietor is a German. The uncouth
waiters, some with repulsive boils on their faces, shuffle across
the unswept floor, which is overrun with cockroaches, and slop down
vile concoctions in front of you, spilling the sticky liquid on the
fly-infested table. One night while sitting there with a friend, I
was given a curaçao flavored with turpentine, while he drew a cocktail
savored with the cholo waiter's dirty thumb.
One of Lima's institutions is drink. Being almost a teetotaler, I
can give no more information than what I observed. Saloons exist
everywhere; there are over six thousand of them, some of which are
really high class. Also there are clubs where liquid refreshments are
sold. There are no days when the saloons are compelled to close; they
generally close their doors at night only when business becomes slack.
Besides the two breweries in Lima there is one in Callao, and although
there is much beer sold, the predominance of mixed drinks is so much
greater that the former is put into the background. The beer is vile
and I was advised not to drink any of it. In the winter of 1916 two
mozos of the Hotel Maury drank a bottle of Nacional Pilsen (Callao)
behind a door when the boss was not looking. Five minutes afterwards
one mozo died from the effects, and the life of the other was
barely saved. Another man drank some Backus & Johnston beer. Shortly
afterwards his teeth and tongue turned black. In both these cases it
was found that the beer was mixed with powerful acids. The reason for
this has not yet been discovered. It is believed by some people that
the preparation was faulty; by others that it was the work of a rival
brewery. Most of the confectionery stores have bars. Broggi invented
a drink which goes by his name. It is called Broggi bitters. This is
the recipe:--Aperitàl, cane syrup, and a dash of Angostura. To this is
added a lemon rind that has been soaked in alcohol. Add cracked ice
and fill the glass with syphon water. Shake well and pour the liquid
through a strainer. Broggi bitters may be obtained anywhere in Lima but
they do not taste like the ones served at the original place. The Maury
specializes in Peruvian cocktails. This drink is pisco, lemon juice,
and a teaspoonful of sugar. To it is added a few drops of Angostura;
it is then shaken with cracked ice, strained, and served with an orange
rind.
Pisco is a terribly strong native drink and is indulged in by the
lower classes. It is grape alcohol, and is flavored with pineapple,
or raspberry, or orange, or prunes. It is seen in the cheap saloons,
standing in large glass jars, yellow, red, orange, or brown according
to the flavor of the ingredient syrup. Chicha, far from being like the
grape cider of Chile, is here a corn alcohol and is indulged in by the
scum for their debauches.
I was once in Lima when there was much money in circulation. The crowds
of foreign residents of the mining towns in the Cordillera and the
floating population used to hie to the Maury bar twice a day to spend
it, and great orgies were pulled off. This has changed materially,
for now with less money in circulation, there are no more of these
parties. Formerly one never saw any paper currency. Now one never sees
any gold. Several of the banks in consolidation have issued circular
checks which are considered by the government as legal. They are the
best looking bills in South America. Their denominations are half
pound, one pound, five and ten pound notes. The merchants grab all the
silver soles that fall into their hands, so that it is impossible many
times to change these circular checks when change is most needed. Some
merchants place signs in their stores saying that this paper currency
will not be accepted as tender unless the purchases amount to two
soles. I was told by the cashier of the Bank of Peru and London that if
I went into a café, bought and drank a bottle of beer, and offered one
of these checks in payment, the proprietors would be obliged to change
it even though they had signs posted to the contrary. He said that if
they refused to make change for me to walk off without paying and the
law would be on my side. I told this to a chance acquaintance from
Montana who had a perpetual thirst. He tried it out by making diurnal
rounds of many saloons, drinking two or three potations in each place,
always tendering a circular check of one of the higher values, which he
invariably found unchangeable.
Lima has the only ice-cream soda fountains that I have discovered south
of the Equator although I am told that one exists in Buenos Aires. It
also has a soft drink parlor, Leonard's, called the Hemaglobino, where
ordinary soda water with the standard, and to us exotic, syrups, such
as tamarind, are dispensed. As to money making, it is a mint, and as
Prat remarked to me, in Buenos Aires it would be a veritable gold mine.
A Lima institution that needs to be ameliorated is the post office
department. None of the South American post offices are any too
reliable but that of Lima is the limit. A few instances of post office
irregularities in the Latin republics will serve as an introduction
before that of Lima is dealt with.
In Paraguay it happens that the post offices frequently run shy of
stamps. A person in Asuncion would like to mail a letter. He takes
it to the post office and is told that there are no stamps but that
if he will pay the money equivalent to the postage the letter will
be forwarded. He does so, and it is the last he or anybody else ever
sees of the letter. It is opened by the post office clerk to see if it
contains money. If it does, the money finds its way into the clerk's
pocket. In any case the letter is thrown into the waste-paper basket.
In enlightened Argentina, there is also much thievery of mail. A mail
car was recently wrecked on the Central Argentine Railroad. Between the
lining of the car and the outside boards hundreds of opened registered
letters were found. A postmaster in a small Argentine village died
recently. In remodeling the building which was used as the post office
there were found in the basement four thousand opened letters.
In Santiago I was advised by my friends to send them no registered
mail. They told me if I did, they would probably never receive it
because it was common for the post office clerks to open registered
mail to see if it contained money. In Argentina and in Bolivia the post
office clerks are discourteous and hate to make change. They gossip
with their friends, keeping a row of people waiting indefinitely for
service. Oftentimes they are busily engaged in reading a newspaper
and will not look up until the article is read. In Ecuador with the
exception of the city of Guayaquil there is no money order service, and
letters are not forwarded if the addressee changes his residence. In
Peru there is no money order service between Lima and the mining towns
such as Cerro de Pasco. Many foreigners live in this last-mentioned
town and it is often necessary for people in the capital to remit money
to them. In order to do so, it is necessary for the remitter to go to
a bank and purchase a draft.
Regarding the Lima post office, thievery is rampant. I bought some
Panama hats in Paita and had them sewed up neatly in several parcels
which I mailed to friends in the United States. The parcels arrived
with practically the identical sewing that I had done, but when they
were opened they were found to contain newspapers. A letter to the
United States from Lima requires twelve centavos postage and a postal
card four centavos. When a foreigner goes to this post office and
looks around for the stamp window he is invariably accosted by several
individuals who inquire if he wishes to buy any stamps. Upon their
being answered in the affirmative, they inquire what denomination he
wants. If he should tell them that he wants to buy some twelve centavo
stamps they will produce a bunch of them which they will sell him for
eight centavos. They also sell four centavo stamps for two and three
centavos. Many of these stamps are minus gum. This shows that the post
office clerks are in league with these touts. They take off the new
stamps, throw the letters in the waste-paper basket, hand the stamps to
their understudies, who whack up the profits with them. These clerks
also steal new stamps from the drawers and peddle them out the same
way.
In Lima, Montevideo, and Asuncion, the post office clerks also do a
lucrative business in selling canceled stamps to collectors. They will
invariably ask the foreigner if he wishes to buy a set of the current
issue canceled. If he refuses they are offended.
Peru is very fertile in the stamp issues that it has put forth ever
since postage stamps have been invented. Fortunately for collectors,
Peru is considered a good country, as many of its stamps bring high
prices in London, New York, and Paris. The natives know this and
there is not to be found a booth in Lima which sells stationery, lead
pencils, cigars, and lottery tickets which does not also sell canceled
postage stamps of the past issues of the country. These can be bought
very cheaply, and can be resold in the United States at fancy prices.
Peru can be called a lawless country. It has a good code but its laws
are not lived up to. There have been many revolutions and there will
be a continuance of them due to its lawless, heterogeneous population,
and the political rivalry between different factions. Most of the
inhabitants have political ambitions on account of the graft connected
with the appointments. Although this is true all over the world, it is
especially true in Peru. The cholo maltreats the Indian, and the white
man bullies the cholo. The Lima police very seldom arrest a foreigner
because they can work him for money. I know of an American in Lima who
through some act of his got into conflict with the police. They led
him off ostensibly to jail, but when they reached a dark street they
asked him how much he would give if they let him go. They willingly
accepted ten pesos. One night I made a purchase in one of the stores.
After having paid for it, I took my purchase and walked out into the
street. I had scarcely taken a few steps before the proprietor ran out
of his store and told me that I had not paid him enough because he had
discovered that what he sold me was worth more than he charged me. This
is a favorite South American dodge and is perpetrated by storekeepers
when they think they can get more for their goods than what they
sold them for. Even the proprietor of a large importing drug firm in
Arequipa tried this on me once, and he was a man worth over one hundred
thousand dollars. I declined to pay the Lima storekeeper any more money
and also declined to give up my purchase. A half block away stood
several policemen and he sent a friend after one of these. The cops
soon appeared on the scene and started to make a big fuss. Ordinarily I
would have returned the purchase but this happened to be something that
I wanted. When the policemen, storekeeper, and bystanders were at the
pitch of excitement, I managed to slip a couple of pesos into the hands
of the former. They immediately changed their attitude, threatened the
storekeeper and his friend with arrest, espoused my cause, and even
went with me as far as the door of the Hotel Maury to "protect me from
molestation" as they called it.
A certain Lima senator not long ago caught his wife in a compromising
act with a stranger. He had them both arrested on a charge of adultery.
He hired the police to castrate the stranger, which was done in the
jail. No proceedings were ever taken against the senator and the
stranger was given short notice to leave the city.
[Illustration: Cercado Church, Lima]
The General Cemetery of Lima is worthy of a visit. It is situated
outside of the city limits, east of a suburb named Cercado. From the
Plaza Santa Ana, the best way to reach it is by the long, populous,
and none too straight Calle Junin on which is passed the ancient
salmon-colored church of Carmen in front of a shady plazuela. I once
saw a vulture the size of an eagle perched on the top of one of the
iron framework crosses that ennoble its exterior. Several long blocks
beyond it is Cercado, now inside the corporation of Lima but formerly
a separate village, founded in 1586, and given the name Santiago. Its
present name, Cercado, is derived from the Spanish _circuido_ meaning
"surrounded," because the town was formerly surrounded with walls. At
the end of one of its tortuous streets is an insane asylum of such a
forbidding character that the epithet over its gate, "Let all who enter
leave hope behind," can be properly applied. In its garden is a well
where the attendants duck the refractory imbeciles till bubbles come
up. Behind the asylum is the Plaza de Cercado, treeless, and traversed
by an open sewer. Here is situated the ancient, dull drab, towered
church, also named Cercado. A prolongation of the Calle Ancahs, here a
broad avenue, bordered on both sides by large trees, leads directly to
the cemetery.
[Illustration: Tomb of the Goyeneche Family, in the General Cemetery,
Lima]
[Illustration: Mr. Kurt Waldemar Linn of New York
This photograph was taken in the General Cemetery in Lima]
The General Cemetery possesses some of the finest works of marble
monumental sculpture in South America. These masterpieces were done
before the Pacific War in 1879 when Peru was an opulent country, and
was not in the decadent and revolutionary state that it is in at the
present time. Personally I do not like this cemetery because it is
enclosed with high walls into which are set thousands of niches, a
true Roman columbarium. Even in sunny daylight, it presents an ultra
mournful appearance, no doubt due to congestion of room. If ever
there was a City of the Dead, this is one. Near the main entrance is
a pantheon, which must be passed through before reaching the cemetery
proper. In front of it is a semi-rotunda bordered by exquisite marble
busts and likenesses of Peru's famous dead of more than a half century
ago. These are finely chiselled masterpieces of soft white gypsum-like
marble, preserving to the present time their original aspects. These
unblemished, untarnished sculptural likenesses are of statesmen,
professors, and so forth, dignified, with nothing in common with the
uncouth rabble of Lima to-day. It is just as well that the men whose
remains are interred beneath these pedestals have long since died for
they have not witnessed the humiliating defeat of their fatherland and
the surrender of the nitrate fields of Iquique, together with the loss
of Tacna and Arica, nor did they hear the tramp through Lima's streets
of the Chilean conquerors.
[Illustration: Mr. Linn of New York Rising out of the Tomb Erected in
Honor of the Peruvian Heroes of the Pacific War, 1879-1882]
[Illustration: Corpse Bearer, General Cemetery, Lima]
Beyond the pantheon are some fine mausoleums, that of the Goyeneche
being remarkable. The cadavers are not sequestered in the tombs, but in
niches in vaults underneath reached by a descending flight of stairs.
The niches rent for six soles for two years ($1.50 a year) and in them
are deposited the remains of those whose means are limited. A white
marble slab generally covers the front of the niche. On these slabs
are designs, differing but little from each other in originality. The
paintings on the slabs are black and depict a willow tree on one of
whose branches sits an owl. Beneath the tree in attitudes of prayer and
mourning are shown several human beings grouped about a corpse lying on
a couch. The infant mortality in Lima must be great as is evidenced by
the number of fresh cement fillings over the niches that are just large
enough to permit the coffin of a child to be placed in the aperture.
I witnessed several burials of poor children. The father, mother,
and a few relatives appear at the cemetery carrying a coffin, smoking
cigarettes, and apparently no more absorbed with grief than if a pet
dog or cat had died. A cemetery employee relieves them of their load
and finds a niche. He climbs upon some boards stretched across a pair
of wooden carpenter's horses and slides into the hole that which had
once been human. He then seizes a cement slab, many of which are lying
about, having been especially manufactured for the cemetery to be used
on such occasions, fits it in the niche end, and slaps over it a few
trowelfuls of wet cement. A scratch on the cement with a pointed stick
writes the name of the deceased infant and the date of its succumbing.
The work of interring is so slipshodly done that swarms of insects,
which delight in making repasts on the putrefying entrails of corpses,
crawl through the cracks of the cement and seethe on the faces of
the slabs. Some of these bit me and caused festering sores by their
undetectable inoculation.
[Illustration: Putting a Coffin into a Niche, General Cemetery, Lima]
In the west end of this cemetery is another pantheon, this one superb.
In it are the sarcophagi of General Bolognesi, Admiral Grau, and other
heroes of the Pacific War. It also contains the bones of the former
presidents. Protestants, pagans, and freemasons are not interred in
this cemetery.
Lima has a patron saint, Santa Rosa. She is also the patron saint of
Callao. She was born in Lima, April 30, 1536, and devoted a life of
purity to God. She died at the age of thirty-one years, August 23,
1567. She was canonized by Pope Clement X. in 1671.
There are many legends printed in book form about the city of Mexico,
but none that I know of about this much more interesting city, Lima.
Anecdotes and tales of the early history of Buenos Aires and Bahia
would be worth reading, but I doubt if there is any city of the Western
Hemisphere which is as rich in romance as Peru's capital. Some of the
old houses here could tell many interesting tales if walls could speak,
especially that one still existing called the Torre-Tagle house, where
the Spanish viceroys formerly resided. It has a beautiful mahogany
ceiling and balustrades and is the home of the Zevallos family.
No modern book on Peru has the names of the viceroys tabulated. I have
therefore gathered the names of the best known ones.
1. Blassco Nuñez de Vela. 1544-1551.
2. Antonio de Mendoza. Sept. 23, 1551-July 21,1556.
He founded the University of San Marcos at Lima.
3. Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza. July 21, 1556-March 30, 1561.
4. Diego Lopez de Zuñiga, Count of Nieva. April 17, 1561-Feb. 20, 1564.
5. Francisco de Toledo. November 26, 1569-Sept. 23, 1581.
He is called the Solon of Peru. He established the Inquisition.
6. Martin Enriquez de Almanza. Sept. 23, 1581-March 15, 1583.
7. Fernando de Torres y Portugal, Count del Villar de Pardo. 1586-Jan.
6, 1590.
8. Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, Marquis of Cañete. Jan. 6, 1590-July 26,
1596.
9. Luis de Velazco. July 26, 1596-Jan. 28, 1604.
He established free schools. He had the first census of Lima taken
January 1, 1600. Its population then was 14,262.
10. Gaspar de Zuñiga y Acevedo, Count of Monterrey. Jan. 28, 1604-Feb.
16, 1606.
11. Juan de Mendoza y Lima, Marquis of Montesclaros. Feb. 16, 1606-Dec.
18, 1615.
He built the stone bridge at Lima which is called the Puente Vieja and
laid out the Alameda de los Descalzos.
12. Francisco de Borja y Aragon, Prince of Esquilache. Dec. 18,
1615-July 25, 1622.
13. Diego Fernandez de Córdoba, Marquis of Guadalcázar. July 25,
1622-Jan. 14, 1629.
14. Luis Geronimo Fernandez de Cabrera, Count of Chinchón. Jan. 14,
1629-Dec. 15, 1639.
During his viceroyalty, the medicinal properties of quinine were
discovered at Lima.
15. Pedro de Toledo y Leyta, Marquis of Mancero. Dec. 15, 1639-.
16. Garcia Sarmiento de Sotomayor, Count of Salvatierra. -June 26, 1659.
17. Luis Enrique de Guzman, Count of Alba de Liste. June 26, 1659-.
18. Diego Benavides y de la Cueva, Count of Santisteban. -1666.
19. Pedro Fernandez de Castro, Count of Lemu. 1666-1672.
20. Baltazar de la Cueva Enriquez. 1672-.
21. Archbishop Melchor Liñan y Cisneros.
22. Melchor de Navarra y Rocaful.
23. Melchor Portocarrero, Count de la Monclova. -Sept. 22, 1705.
He had a census of Lima taken, Jan. 1, 1700. Its population was 37,234.
24. Manuel de Oms y Santa Pau, Marquis of Castel Dos Rios. Sept. 22,
1705-Apr. 22, 1710.
25. Diego Ladron de Guevara, Bishop of Quito. Apr. 22, 1710-.
27. Diego de Morcillo, Archbishop of Charcas. -Jan. 11, 1730.
28. José de Almendariz, Marquis of Castel Fuerte. Jan. 11, 1730-.
30. José Antonio Manso de Velasco, Count of Superunda. July 12,
1745-Nov. 13, 1762.
31. Manuel de Amat. Nov. 13, 1762-. He expelled the Jesuits from Peru.
35. Francisco Gil de Taboada, Lemus y Villamarin.
36. Ambrosio O'Higgins, Marquis of Osorno. -Mar. 18, 1801.
He built the road from Lima to Callao.
37. Gabriel de Avilés y del Fierro, Marquis of Avilés, Nov. 6,
1801-July 26, 1806.
38. Jose Fernando Abascal. July 26, 1806-.
39. Joaquim de la Pezuela.
He was the last Viceroy of Peru.