ptions, are the descendants of
Spaniards, constitute somewhat less than a third part of the population
of Lima. They are slender in figure and of middling height. Their
features are strongly marked, their complexions fair and pale, and their
hair is of the darkest black. The men are feeble and look prematurely
old. Their countenances, though not devoid of dignity, have a sort of
sensual expression. They are effeminate, and disinclined to any kind of
active exertion. If they ride the distance of ten miles, they think they
have performed a feat of heroism worthy to be recorded in the state
archives. If the white Creoles are inferior to the Spaniards in physical
organization, they are no less beneath them in qualities of mind. They
shrink from anything that demands intellectual exertion. In short, they
are sworn enemies to business of every kind, and those who are obliged
to work for their own support, make choice of some occupation which,
like that of a shopman, affords them ample time to smoke cigars and to
gossip with their neighbors. The richer classes give themselves up
wholly to idleness. They walk about and visit their acquaintances, or
they lounge in shops or at the corners of streets, and in that manner
they often amuse themselves for half a day. Those who are owners of
plantations occasionally ride through them to receive reports from their
mayordomos. Their afternoons are usually spent in the _Coliseo de
gallos_, in the coffee-houses, or at the gaming-table. The white Creoles
are as passionately fond of gaming as the Spaniards, and sums equal to
those staked at the gaming-tables of Mexico and the Havannah are daily
lost and won in Lima. Though games of hazard are prohibited, yet they
are very publicly played, and it is only now and then that the police
enforce the regulations of the law by the seizure of a bank.

Gaming in Lima is carried on very quietly, and the most determined
gamblers do not show themselves very much excited either by losses or
winnings. The discovery of false dice, however, creates bitter feelings
of animosity, which not unfrequently lead to assassination. Of this I
knew several instances when I was in the interior of the country.

The intellectual culture of the white Creole of Lima is exceedingly
defective. He is not wanting in talent; but an imperfect system of
education affords him no opportunity for the development of his
faculties, and innate indolence is a bar to his self-improvement