in Lima as in other tropical regions.

In consequence of the ignorance of the medical attendants, and the
neglect of the police, the statistical tables of deaths are very
imperfectly drawn up, and therefore cannot be entirely depended upon.
I may, however, here subjoin one of them, which will afford the reader
some idea of the mortality of Lima.

The annual number of deaths in Lima varies from 2,500 to 2,800.

In the ten months, from the 1st of January to the 30th of October, 1841,
the number of marriages was 134, of which 46 were contracted by whites,
and 88 by people of color.

DEATHS IN LIMA FROM JANUARY 1, TO OCTOBER 30, 1841:-

Diseases. Men. Women. Children. Total.

Dysentery 171 105 59 335
Fevers, chiefly intermittent 57 88 71 216
Typhus 14 7 24 45
Pulmonary Consumption 87 110 11 208
Inflammation of the Lungs 78 75 26 179
Dropsy, for the most part a
consequence of intermittent fevers 33 32 7 72
Hooping-cough 36 36
Small Pox 3 1 4
Sudden death 23 13 1 37
Shot 3 3
Various Diseases 271 228 610 1,109
--- --- --- -----
740 658 846 2,244

The number of births were:--

Boys. Girls. Total.

In marriage 410 412 822
Not in marriage 432 428 860
--- --- -----
842 840 1,682

The number of births not in marriage (860) is remarkable, and no less so
is the number of dead children exposed, which, during the above
interval, was 495. These are most decided proofs of the immorality and
degraded state of manners prevailing in Lima, particularly among the
colored part of the population. Though there is no certain evidence of
the fact, yet there is reason to conjecture that a considerable number
of those infants are destroyed by the mothers. Of the children born out
of marriage, nearly tw