Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1891-02-06
STREET SCENES IN LIMA.
PICTURESQUE SIGHTS IN THE
PERUVIAN CAPITAL.

PERUVIAN CAPITAL.
Few Carts Are Seen--Chinese Are
Numerous-TheM Miserable Coolies
"A Great Intermixture of Races.
In the streets of Lima you remark the
rareness of carts, and the use by prefer
ence of mules and donkeys as beasts of
burden. AL day long the streets are full
of itinerapt venders, hany of whom
come in frt.n the suburbs and the coun-
try. The milk woman, a negress or
Chola, with dark skin, long bIaids of
black hair, and white straw Panama
hat of masculine shape,, sits enthroned on
the top of her cans, and often carries
baby in her arms; or, if her Indian blood
be very strong, the baby will be hung
on her back in pouch. The water
seller, or aguador, rides on the hind
quarters of a donkey, with his water
barrels In front of him. The bakers use
square panniers made of parchment
stretched on wooden frame, and for
supplementary loads long sack is sus-
pended on each side of the mule or
donkey. Fruit sellers are to be found at
every street corner, squatting i'll the
shade, with piles of grapes, paltas;
peaches, granadillas; mangoes, bananas
and other fruit before them. The De-
semparados Bridge is favorite station
for the fruit women, and also for all
kinds of peddlers, amongst whom the
Chinaman is conspicuous. In Lima the
Chinese are very numerous; some OF them
sell water-ices and others fruit, which
they carry in Oriental style in baskets
suspended from long bamboo pole
balanced on their shoulder; they also do
all kinds of odd work as porters and SER
wants, but their speciality is keeping
cheap restaurants.
The Limenos eat, but do not dine. !
may even 90 further and say that they
never will dine so long as the Hispano-
American system of leaving housekeep-
ing entirely to the servants remains un-
reformed. At present the better classes
of society give the cook two, three or
more dollars every day, and with that
sum the cook provides whatever he thinks
proper, unadvised, unenlightened and un
controlled. Most of the people, however,
and send out to the nearest restaurant to
buy dish or two of something that de-
fies analysis. John Chinaman is the ex-
elusive restauranteur of the poor, of the
working classes and of the market peo-
pie. Around the principal Mercado de
la Conception, in particular, Chinese
restaurants and shops abound, each one
decorated with vertical inscriptions writ
ten on black or orange-red paper. Some
of the merchants and shopkeepers are
well dressed and good-loo<ing Chinese,
with elegant pig-tails, nicely shaven blue
temples, and glossy skins; but the vast
majority of the yellow race in Lima
are coolies of the lowest class, who
wear cotton trousers, black or choco-
late-colored blouses and Panama hats.
Many of them have no pigtail, but allow
their hair to grow shaggy. Others,
again, are miserably emacisted and
jaundiced by the abuse of opium. There
is Chinese theatre at Lima and pago-
da. The origin of the colony is the i'm
portation of coolies in former years to
work the guano deposits and for agri-
cultural labor. This system of contract
labor, which was virtual slavery, was
abolished by law only a few years ago;
but most of the emancipated slaves have
remained in the country, where they now
intermarry with the native Chola woman,
and form peaceful and industrious citi-
zens and model fathers. am informed
that John Chinamens qualities as hus-
band aud family man are now highly
appreciated by the native ladies of the
lower classes, although formerly he was
looked upon with horror.
Negroes also abound in Lima and all
along the coast of Peru. They are like
wise emancipated slaves and their de-
scendants. Besides Chinese and ne
groes, you see in the streets of Lima all
shades of skin, from Ethiopian black,
chocolate, copper, red-brown and yell
low, to the sallow white skin of the
aristocratic and worn-out Peruvian,
and the Opaque pure white of the far.
famed Limena beauties. The intermix-
ture of the black, white and yellow
races with the native Indians has pro.
duced more than twenty degrees of hy-
bridism, to distinguish which requires
an expert. In Lima the pure Indian
from the mountains is rarely seen, and
when he and his wife do go down to the
capital, they prove to be a stolid and
imbruted couple, not worthy of any
particular interest. Magazine.