[Illustration: RIDING AND FULL-DRESS COSTUME OF THE PERUVIAN
LADIES.]

Quite as odd, in their way, as these good padres, are the
Peruvian loungers, the "lions" of Lima--a long-haired, becloaked,
truculent-looking set of fellows, whose proper place would seem
to be among operatic banditti. A greater contrast and disparity
than exists between them and the beautiful brunettes to whom they
are fain to devote themselves, cannot well be imagined. That the
latter generally prefer European gentlemen to these ill-favored
beaux, follows as a matter of course. That the discarded "lion"
resents this preference of his fair countrywomen, we have the
testimony of the traveler already quoted from.

"Instinctively, as it were, a feeling of dislike and rivalry
seemed to prevail between ourselves and such of these truculent
gentry as it was our fortune to come into contact with. They were
jealous, no doubt, of the wandering foreigners, whom they chose
contemptuously to term _gringos_, but who, they know well
enough, are infinitely preferred to themselves by their handsome
coquettish countrywomen. It is, indeed, notoriously the fact,
that any respectable man of European birth can marry well, and
even far above his own social position, amongst the dark-eyed
donnas of Peru. The men don't seem exactly to like it. Judging by
their appearance, we found but little difficulty in believing the
character which report had given them--namely, their proneness to
assassination, especially in love affairs, either personally,
or, more frequently, by deputy. If the brilliant creole and
half-caste women of this warm, tropical country, are some of
the most beautiful and lovable of the sex, their sallow,