beans or cocoa-nut. There is also a
favorite kind of dulce made from maize, called _masamora_.

The Peruvians have some very singular prejudices on the subject of
eating and drinking. Every article of food is, according to their
notions, either heating (_caliente_), or cooling (_frio_); and they
believe that certain things are in opposition one to another, or, as the
Limenos phrase it, _se oponen_. The presence in the stomach of two of
these opposing articles of food, for example, chocolate and rice, is
believed to be highly dangerous, and sometimes fatal. It is amusing to
observe the Limenos when at dinner, seriously reflecting, before they
taste a particular dish, whether it is in opposition to something they
have already eaten. If they eat rice at dinner, they refrain from
drinking water, because the two things _se oponen_. To such an extreme
is this notion carried, that they will not taste rice on days when they
have to wash, and laundresses never eat it. Frequently have I been asked
by invalids whether it would be safe for them to take a foot-bath on
going to bed, as they had eaten rice at dinner!

The white Creoles, as well as all the superior class of people in Lima,
are exceedingly temperate in drinking. Water and a kind of sweet wine
are their favorite beverage; but the lower classes and the people of
color are by no means so abstemious. They make free use of fermented
drinks, especially brandy, chicha, and guarapo. The brandy of Peru is
very pure, and is prepared exclusively from the grape. On the warm sea
coast, the use of this liquor is not very injurious; there, its evil
effects are counteracted by profuse perspiration. But one half the
quantity that may be drunk with impunity on the coast, will be very
pernicious in the cool mountainous regions. An old and very just maxim
of the Jesuits is, "_En pais caliente, aguardiente; en pais frio, agua
fria_" (in the warm country, brandy; in the cold country, water).

Guarapo is a fermented liquor, made of sugar-cane pulp and water. It
is a very favorite beverage of the negroes. There are several kinds of
guarapo. The best sorts are tolerably agreeable. _Chicha_ is a sort of
beer prepared from maize. The seeds of the maize are watered and left
until they begin to sprout, after which they are dried in the sun.
When sufficiently dry they are crushed, boiled in water, and then
allowed to stand till fermentation takes place. The liquid is of a
dark yellow color, and h