Lima, always the capital of the Spanish dominion in the New World, and the seat of the Inquisition in South America, was and is still a pillar of Catholicism. The plaza where the Senate building is located is named the Plazuela de la Inquisicion; in its neighborhood were perpetrated the barbarous tortures on heretics, written about in Vicuña Mackenna's books. Joints were stretched by screws; ear holes were filled with molten metal; writhing bodies to whose feet was tied an iron hundredweight were hoisted by outstretched arms to the ceiling by means of pulleys, the weight causing the body to tear in two at the abdomen. The last of these barbarities took place in 1820. In Peru no other religion but the Roman Catholic is recognized, although others are tolerated. Watching a religious procession one day as it passed through the streets of the city, a thirty-second-degree Mason turned to me and said:
"A Mason has no more show in this town than a fly on fly-paper."
There are forty-eight large churches in Lima and twenty-two chapels. The latter are large enough to be fair-sized churches in the United States. The most aristocratic church is that of La Merced adjoining the convent of the same name on the Calle Union. It has an opulent interior. The nave is high and airy, and the air is laden with frankincense. It is my favorite of all the Lima churches and I often repaired thither to attend mass or for pious meditation. San Francisco church is very rich; its architecture is Saracenic. Another fine church is San Augustin. It has a marvelous sculptured façade. According to the original plan, it was to have two towers but they have never been added. It is here that the president takes his oath of office. Other fine churches worthy of visit are San Domingo, San Pedro, and Nazarenas, although many others present great interest.
Procession of the Milagro, Lima
Easter week in Lima is an unforgettable event. Penitents, carrying holy images, processions, and throngs of religious devotees fill the streets. One of the pageants which has a touch of barbaric mingled with Christianity is that of the Milagro. What gives it a touch of the barbaric is the majority of negroes who take part in it. The trail of the Milagro lies through the squalid streets in the part of the city north of the Rimac. All the people officiating are garbed in purple tunics. It is preceded by youths carrying gaudy lamps. Then follow negro women, chanting dirges. A stranger looking at it for the first time is apt to believe that it is a procession exorcising against the plague for after the cantors come black Mary Magdalene's carrying lighted hand braziers from which they blow great fumes of incense smoke on the onlookers, nearly suffocating many by the intoxicating fragrance. There is a brass band of purple-robed devotees playing weird music followed by an image of the Saviour in an upright position mounted on a metal platform. This image is adorned with wreaths, flowers, and ribbons; before it is an altar with lighted candles. The platform is very heavy and is borne by sixteen men, four on each side, four in front, and four in back, who support its weight on their padded shoulders on which rest beams. The procession is very slow, moving at a snail's pace, and as it proceeds, the pageant sways with a peculiar serpentine rhythm. On account of the weight of the image and its accouterments, at every few yards the procession stops and the carriers are relayed. Some of them faint under the strain. The expression on the faces of the carriers is that of most reverend devotion; the light of sanctity is in their eyes, and they walk as if in a trance. This carrying of the image is a great honor, and the fortunate ones look forward to it for a whole year. Following the image walked a priest, his well-fed form protected from the sun by a canopy of cloth of gold upheld on poles by six purple-clad boys. His expression was far from being that of sanctity. Merciless and unrelentless, his face wore a heartless and cold-blooded mien as if he were a graven image of stone. Smug and self-centered, he appeared to be greatly contented with the position he occupied, the cynosure of all eyes. When the procession passed the Calle Trujillo, the main street of the section of Lima north of the Rimac, street car and pedestrian traffic was stopped for half an hour. As in all places, there was a crowd of procession followers. As the pageant merely crawled along, many youths of this class regaled themselves with libations of pisco which is offered for sale every few doors in that neighborhood. The consequence was that there were many staggering steps among the spectators.
Lima is seen to its greatest advantage from the middle of the stone bridge at dusk when the electric lights are being turned on or after dark on a moonlight night from the same spot. The view is far superior to that of Florence as seen from the Arno bridge. In the daytime the masses of chrome-colored houses, churches, and towers, the teeming street life, the trains arriving at and leaving Desamparados station present the aspect of a metropolis both medieval and modern. At night when the white moon rising above San Cristobal hill plays on the ripples of the Rimac, and reflects on them the myriads of lights from the windows, while in the distance the trees along the river bank cause an inky blackness, is seen a picture beyond the scope of the greatest artists.
The part of Lima north of the Rimac is much the smallest, but it is the most thickly settled. It is the dirtiest part and is the favorite abode of negroes and Chinamen; here street dogs of all descriptions constantinopolize the thoroughfares, and when not basking on their bellies on the sidewalks, they devour mule manure and snap at fleas. This is the section of the city where the bubonic plague cases sporadically occur, as well as being the section most poignant in crime. It has a handsome parkway with statues, the Alameda de los Descalzos, though it would be better located if it were south of the river. On the north side are the two breweries, which with the exception of two flour mills are Lima's sole factories. The breweries are Backus & Johnston Company, Ltd., and Eduardo Harster's Piedra Liza Brewery. Above the suburb of Piedra Liza rises San Cristobal hill (altitude 1300 feet) which is 179 feet higher than the hill of the same name at Santiago, Chile. Its summit is crowned by a wireless station of the Telefunken.
In Lima there is only one hotel at which a North American or a European can stop in comfort, the Maury. This hotel, owned by Angel Bertolotto and leased to Visconti & Velasquez, is with the exception of some of the Buenos Aires hotels the best in South America. Many of the rooms have baths and are sumptuously furnished. The prices are high. This Hotel Maury started with one building on the corner of Bodegones and Villalta but when trade increased, it was necessary to acquire the adjoining buildings, so that at the present time the caravanserai extends the length of the whole block as far as the cathedral. It is as intricate as a maze to find one's way about the upstairs corridors. The ground floor is occupied with several tile-paved dining rooms, and a large bar where congregate many of the foreign residents to enjoy libations. The bartenders are good mixologists, but devote too much of their time selling to tourists at usurious prices guide books and views of Peru that they obtained for a song. When they are not doing this they are busily engaged in drying orange peels that they fished out of somebody's already consumed cocktail in order to have it in proper condition to put into a cocktail ordered by the next customer. The other hotels in Lima, impossible for the foreigner, are the delight of the native-born population, as the Maury is too expensive for their pocketbooks. There are many pastry and confectionery stores in Lima, some being very good ones. These all sell ice cream and specialize in preparing banquets. Many have ice manufacturing establishments in connection with them. The best known are those named Arturo Field, Broggi, Marron, and Parisienne.