ed in the
aggregate, they will not, even with the advantages of careful education,
attain a very high degree of cultivation; because the structure of the
negro skull, on which depends the development of the brain, approximates
closely to the animal form. The imitative faculty of the monkey is
highly developed in the negro, who readily seizes anything merely
mechanical, whilst things demanding intelligence are beyond his reach.
Sensuality is the impulse which controls the thoughts, the acts, the
whole existence of the negroes. To them freedom can be only nominal; for
if they conduct themselves well it is because they are compelled, not
because they are inclined to do so. Herein lie at once the cause of, and
the apology for, their bad character.

The negro women differ but little from the men, in their general
characteristics. They are, however, more active and industrious, and
better tempered. As domestic servants they are superior to the mixed
races. They are much employed as nurses, and in those situations they
discharge their duties well. Their personal vanity is boundless, and
every real they can save is spent in dress and ornaments. It is amusing
to see them, on festival days, parading about the streets, dressed in
white muslin gowns trimmed with lace, and short sleeves displaying their
black arms. Very short petticoats, seldom extending below the ankle,
serve to exhibit the tawdry finery of red silk stockings and light blue
satin shoes. From their ears are suspended long gold drops, and their
uncovered necks are not unfrequently adorned with costly necklaces. A
negress, who was a slave belonging to a family of my acquaintance,
possessed a necklace composed of fine Panama pearls, worth several
thousand dollars. The pure white of the pearls was wonderfully
heightened by the contrast of the jet-black skin of the wearer; and for
this reason they were more ornamental to the negress than they would
have been to the fairest lady in Europe.

Having noticed the principal races, we will now consider the variegated
mass of people of mixed blood, who in Lima form a considerable portion
of the population. Stevenson[25] gives a long list of these mixed races,
and specifies the proportionate degree, that is to say, how many eighths
or sixteenths of black, brown, or white color belong to each. But these
data respecting tint are fallacious, for, being founded solely on
external appearance, they are liable to endless modifications.