fantastically painted in squares or stripes, and almost all had great
balconies shut in with trellis-work.

Few of the houses had any windows towards the street, the larger ones
being constructed with a central courtyard, into which the rooms all
opened. The streets were all built at right angles, the principal ones
leading from the grand square, in which stood the cathedral and the palace
of the Spanish viceroys, the other sides consisting of private houses,
with shops and arcades below them. The hotel to which they had been
recommended was a large building with a courtyard, with dining and other
rooms opening from it, and above them the bedrooms. In comparison with the
inn at Callao it was magnificent, but in point of cleanliness it left a
great deal to be desired. After settling themselves in their room they
went out. The change in temperature since they had left Callao had been
very great.

"The first thing to do, Bertie, is to buy ourselves a couple of good
ponchos. You see all the natives are wearing them."

"We certainly want something of the sort, Harry. I thought it was heat
that we were going to suffer from, but it seems just the other way. To
judge from the temperature we might be in Scotland, and this damp mist
chills one to the bone."

"I am not much surprised, for of course I got the subject up as much as I
could before starting; and Barnett told me that Lima was altogether an
exceptional place, and that while it was bright and warm during the winter
months, from May till November on the plains only a few miles away, even
in the summer months there was almost always a clammy mist at Lima, and
that inside the house as well as outside everything streamed with