The Spaniards are no friends to the bottle, yet gallantry and intrigue are here brought to perfection, insomuch that it is quite unmannerly here not to have a mistress, and scandalous not to keep her well.  The women have many accomplishments, both natural and acquired, having graceful motions, winning looks, and engaging, free, and sprightly conversation.  They are all delicately shaped, not injured by stiff-bodied stays, but left entirely to the beauty of nature, and hardly is there a crooked body to be seen, among them.  Their eyes and teeth are singularly beautiful, and their hair is universally of a dark polished hue, nicely combed and plaited, and tied behind with ribbons, but never disguised by powder; and the brightness of their skins round the temples, clearly appears through their dark hair.  Though amours are universal at Lima, the men are very careful to bide them, and no indecent word or action is ever permitted in public.  They usually meet for these purposes, either in the afternoon at the Siesta, or in the evening in calashes on the other side of the river, or in the great square of the city, where calashes meet in great numbers in the dusk.  These are slung like our coaches, but smaller, many of them being made only to hold two persons sitting opposite.  They are all drawn by one mule, with the negro driver sitting on his back; and it is quite usual to see some of these calashes, with the blinds close, standing still for half an hour at a time.  In these amusements they have several customs peculiar to themselves.  After evening prayers, the gentleman changes his dress from a cloak to a montero, or jockey-coat, with a laced linen cap on his head, and a handkerchief round his neck, instead of a wig; or if he wear his own hair, it must be tucked under a cap and concealed, as it is the universal fashion to be thus disguised.  Even those who have no mistress, are ashamed to appear virtuous, and must be somehow masked or disguised, in order to countenance the way of the world.  As, all this is night-work, they have an established rule to avoid quarrels, by never speaking to or noticing each other, when going in quest of or to visit their ladies.

In short, the fore-part of every night in the year is a kind of masquerade.  Among people of any rank who do not keep calashes, one couple never walks close behind another, but each at the distance of at least twelve paces, to prevent the overhearing of any secret whispers.  Should a lady drop a fan or any thing else by accident, a gentleman may take it up, but he must not give it to the lady, but to the gentleman who accompanies her, lest she may happen to be the wife or sister of him who takes it up; and as all the ladies are veiled, these wise rules are devised to prevent any impertinent discoveries.  Any freedom in contravention of these laws of gallantry would be looked upon as the highest affront, and would be thought to merit a drawn sword through the midriff.