Peru as It Is, Volume 1 (of 2): A Residence in Lima, and Other Parts of the Peruvian Republic, Comprising an Account of the Social and Physical Features of That CountrySmith, Archibald
History
Peru as It Is, Volume 1 (of 2): A Residence in Lima, and Other Parts of the Peruvian Republic, Comprising an Account of the Social and Physical Features of That Country
Smith, Archibald
Peru -- Description and travel
We meet with persons who never experience the smallest annoyance or
approach to anger, without being affected by some corresponding movement
in the bowels; and others are never known to get warm in earnest
discussion without feeling some derangement at the stomach, or showing on
the following day a white or furred tongue. In truth, the delicacy of the
digestive organs, or that mobility by which their functions are so easily
affected by mental emotions, is quite extraordinary; and, as the daily
repair and due sustenance of the whole frame depends on the regular and
healthy discharge of the digestive functions, it is not to be wondered
at that, among a people by no means intellectual in their habits, the
sword should often be observed to wear out its scabbard,—in other words,
that the frequent agitations of passion should induce serious diseases,
and easily wear out the frame in a country where the sympathy between
the mind and chylopoetic organs is so very marked and influential. Hence
the anxiety which experienced natives feel at the hour of awakening
repentance, or the return of sober reflection, after a culpable
indulgence of anger; and hence, too, the rigid abstinence or tenuous diet
attended to after one has been fretful or out of temper, till the pulse
is again observed to be natural, and the organs of digestion sufficiently
composed: and to show how far these painful states of mind may affect the
secretion of milk, we have only to recollect that the Limeña will hear
her babe cry a whole day, rather than harm it by giving the breast till
her own agitation, which she knows vitiates her milk, is quieted after
one of those choleric movements which it has been either her fault or
misfortune to suffer.
XI. _Si se puede lavarse con agua fria._—In almost every case of
lingering illness in either sex, it is vexatious to witness the
reluctance to ablution that prevails in the capital; and this prejudice,
with the dread of shaving connected with it, is particularly cherished
among those who have been delicately nurtured; the male part of whom are
often heard to ask “si se puede lavarse con agua fria o afeytarse?”—if it
be safe to wash with cold water or to shave.
The Limenians are fond of seasonal bathing and the pleasures of a
watering-place, which they know how to enjoy for three months in the year.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account