the city, is to the east of the river, over which there is a handsome
stone bridge of seven arches. Including all sorts and colours, I
computed that the whole population of Lima amounted to between
sixty and seventy thousand persons; and I should not wonder at any
multiplication in this city, as it is the centre of so much affluence
and pleasure. Besides the natural increase of the inhabitants, all
ships that trade this way, whether public or private, generally leave
some deserters, who remain behind in consequence of the encouragement
given to all white faces.

The people here are perhaps the most expensive in their habits of any
in the world. The men dress nearly as in England, their coats being
either of silk, fine English cloth, or camblets, embroidered or laced
with gold or silver, and their waistcoats usually of the richest
brocades. The women wear no stays or hoops, having only a stitched
holland jacket next their shifts, and they generally wear a square
piece of swansdown flannel thrown over their shoulders, entirely
covered with Flanders lace, and have their petticoats adorned with
gold or silver lace. When they walk out, the Creole women are mostly
veiled, but not the mulattoes; and, till thirty or forty years of
age, they wear no head-clothes, their hair being tied behind with fine
ribbons. The pride of the ladies chiefly appears in fine Mechlin or
Brussels lace, with which they trim their linen in a most extravagant
manner, not omitting even their sheets and pillows. Their linen
jackets are double bordered with it, both at top and bottom, with four
or five ruffles or furbelows hanging down to their knees. They
are very extravagant also in pearls and precious stones, in rings,
bracelets, and necklaces, though the value of these is hardly equal to
the shew.