is painfully decorated, without taste or system; within is a solid
silver altar, paintings of archbishops, and their earthly remains also,
mummified in leather, and reposing in open coffins.

The Viceroy's Palace fills the northern face of the square--a low,
irregular collection of buildings--the lower parts, fronting the plaza
and streets, occupied by small shopmen, similar to the hosts of tinkers,
fringemen, hatters, and cooks beneath the opposite ranges of the
_portales_. Opening into the inner courtyard are the public offices and
the private residence of the President, General Castilla. He was a
soldier of fortune, had risen from the ranks, and passed through many
vicissitudes of life before being chosen the supreme governor of Peru;
not more surprising probably even to himself, than the extraordinary
anomaly, that he has held his position the four years since the
election, without a revolution having arisen to disturb his
tranquillity. This security he owed, in a measure, to his individual
bravery and soldiership displayed in times past, and the belief
generally entertained by dissatisfied persons of his upright character,
and his indifference to execute summary vengeance on whomsoever should
incur his displeasure, by again involving the country in the turmoils of
civil discord.

The General and staff visited our frigate at Callao, and were received
with manned yards and the usual artillery. In person he was about the
middle stature, with a frank, bronzed face, and agreeable address.

Many curious objects are pointed out within, or in the vicinity of the
palace, rich in reminiscences of the Pizarros, and the tragic drama
connected with the life and death of the Conqueror--the room wherein he
was assassinated, and the balcony from whence he was afterwards hurled
by the Almagros.

The main Patio was thronged with troops of eager and expectant
cormorants, who, my informant stated, were gentlemen in waiting upon the
treasury--officers and _empleados_ with large salaries in
perspective--but, strange to say, the vaults were invariably empty; or,
in case there should be a surplus on hand, it is a description of money
composed of so base a metal that it will not pass for one-fifth the
nominal value out of Lima.

A national museum has lately been established--a small enterprise thus
far,--containing a few Cacique antiquities, Island weapons and
ornaments, a coat worn by Salaverry when he was murdered--bedabbled with
m