The viceroy's palace, formerly a fine structure, but which was damaged by the great earthquake in 1687, the city prison, the archiepiscopal palace, the council house, and the cathedral, stand in the great square, and occupy three sides of it.
In the suburbs, as well as in most parts of the city, the houses are of wood-work, interlaced with wild canes and osiers, both within and without, plastered over with clay and white washed; the fronts being painted to imitate stone. Most of the houses are only one story high with a flat roof, covered on the top with slight materials to keep out the wind and sun, as it never rains violently in this part of Peru, and the rafters which support the roofs are carved and decorated within side, and covered with clay on the outside. This mode of building has been adopted, in consequence of the destructive effects of the earthquakes which have so often devastated Lima.
On solemn festivals, or on the entrance of a new viceroy, the riches and pomp displayed in this city are astonishing, the churches being loaded with massive plate, consisting of tables, candlesticks, statues of saints of solid silver, the holy vestments and chalices covered with gold, diamonds, pearls and precious stones, and even on the common days of office, the decorations of the churches is richer than can be seen at the most splendid catholic festival in Europe.
Luxury in dress and splendid retinues are the prevailing passion of the gentry and people of Lima, so that the public walks and malls are crowded with carriages. The dress of the ladies is extremely rich; and even those of low rank never appear without bracelets, rosaries, and gold images about their necks and arms. The white females are in general of a middling stature, handsome, of a very fair complexion, with beautiful dark hair and bright eyes; they are naturally gay, sprightly and without levity in their outward behaviour, though taxed with vicious propensities; and all the women of Lima have a great fondness for music: the dress of the men is also very superb, but they are said to be in general fonder of gallantry than of following any useful avocations, though they occasionally show great ardour for the acquisition of knowledge.
The theatre of Lima is a neat building, but the performers are said to be very wretched; coffee-houses were only established here in 1771, cock-fighting and bull-baiting are the favourite amusements of the populace, who are also greatly addicted to gaming.
In Lima the number of inhabitants has been estimated at 54,000, the monks and clergy being 1390, the nuns 1580, the Spaniards at 17,200, with 3200 Indians, and 9000 negroes, the rest being mestizoes and other castes.
The rich priests, proprietors of estates, military and civil officers, physicians, lawyers and artizans, compose a body of 19,000, and the remaining 35,000 are slaves, domestics and labourers; but the population has declined since the erection of the viceroyalty of La Plata.
The climate of this city is agreeable, and though the variation of the four seasons is perceptible, yet they are all moderate; spring begins in November, winter in June or July, when the south winds cease, and this season continues, with the intervention of a second spring or autumn until November; rain is seldom or ever known at Lima, tempests rarely happen, and the inhabitants are strangers to thunder and lightning; but they are infested with vermin and insects during the summer months, and are always subject to the recurrence of earthquakes, several of which have nearly ruined the city at different times in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries; the one which happened in 1746, being the most tremendous and destructive, and which took place on the 28th of October at half after ten at night, continuing for many weeks. The city was nearly destroyed, numbers of the inhabitants perished, and the port of Callao was submerged by the sea; twenty-four vessels were lying in the harbour, nineteen of which were sunk, and a frigate, and three others carried up by the rise of the waves into the country a considerable distance from the beach; out of 4000 people, the number which escaped at Callao was only 200, while at Lima 1300 were buried under the ruins, and numbers wounded and maimed.
In Lima, the most common disorders are malignant, intermittent, and catarrhous fevers, pleurisies and constipations. The small-pox was formerly very fatal; but in 1802, a merchant vessel, the Santo Domingo de la Calzada, put into Callao, in a voyage from Spain to Manilla; a philanthropic individual in Spain had sent some vaccine matter on board of this ship for the Philippines; but as the small-pox was raging at that time in Lima, Don M. Unanue, the professor of anatomy, hearing of this precious cargo, and instantly availing himself of it, vaccinated his patients, which he performed with the greatest success, and since that period, the Jennerian system having been followed, the virulence of the small-pox gives way.
The great wealth of the citizens of Lima is mostly derived from the mines in the internal provinces, but agricultural pursuits are much followed, and the pastures in the vicinity feed multitudes of horses, mules and cattle. The ancient Peruvians had rendered the valley of Rimac very fertile by intersecting it with small canals, and this plan has been adopted by the Spaniards who irrigate their spacious fields of wheat and barley, their meadows, plantations of sugar-cane, olives, vines, as well as their gardens, which are thus rendered very productive, but the frequent earthquakes having tended to alter the good quality of the soil, it consequently requires much care to manage.