fine quicksand, which
is often more than a foot deep. A Peruvian planter, who was accustomed
to take his wife every year on a visit to his plantation, situated
about thirty-two leagues from Lima, assured me that the journey to and
fro always cost him 1400 dollars.

During the brilliant period of the Spanish domination, incredible sums
were frequently expended on carriages and mules. Not unfrequently the
tires of the caleza wheels and the shoes of the mules were of silver
instead of iron.

In Peru, riding is a universal custom, and almost every person keeps
one or more horses. The ladies of Lima are distinguished as graceful
horsewomen. Their equestrian costume consists of a white riding-habit,
trowsers richly trimmed with lace, a fine white poncho, and a
broad-brimmed straw hat. Some of the females of the colored races make
use of men's saddles, and display great skill in the management of the
most unruly horses.

The horse-trappings used in Peru are often very costly. On the coast and
in the interior, I have sometimes seen head-gear, bridle, and crupper,
composed of finely-wrought silver rings, linked one into another. The
saddle is frequently ornamented with rich gold embroidery, and the
holster inlaid with gold. The stirrups are usually the richest portion
of the trappings. They are made of carved wood, and are of pyramidal
shape; about a foot high and a foot broad at the base. In front and at
the sides they are close, and are open only at the back in the part
where the foot rests. The edges are rimmed with silver, and the top of
the stirrup is surmounted by a bell of the same metal, with a ring
through which the straps are passed. A priest with whom I was acquainted
in the Sierra, got a saddle and a pair of stirrups made for me. The
silver ornaments on the stirrups alone weighed forty pounds. The
decorations of the saddle were of corresponding richness. The value of
the silver on both saddle and stirrups was about 1500 dollars. The spurs
used in Peru are of colossal magnitude. Old custom ordains that they
must contain three marks (a pound and a half) of silver. The stirrup-bow
is broad and richly wrought; the ornaments being either of the pattern
called _hueso de tollo_,[34] or of that styled _hoja de laurel con
semilla_.[35] The rowel is one and a half or two inches in diameter, and
the points are about twenty-five or thirty inches long.

In the bridle, the bit and the snaffle are in one piece, and the reins
a