"Another stew, simpler than puchero, is called _chupe_; it is a favorite dish for breakfast, but not often served at dinner. The lower classes are fond of _picantes_, compounded of meat, fish, crabs, meal, potatoes, bananas, and red peppers, mixed with the juice of bitter oranges, and stewed with water. We have tasted of this wonderful mixture, but could not get to the second spoonful in consequence of the fiery nature of the peppers. Fred says they use a pound of peppers to a pound of all the other ingredients, water included, and I can believe it. Swallowing a torchlight procession would be preferable to a dinner of picantes. Around the landing-place at Callao we saw women, with little braziers of charcoal, ladling out the steaming picantes to the idlers and laborers of the port, and we are told it is their only article of food. In the poorer parts of Lima there is a _picanteria_ every few yards, and each establishment has its patrons among the porters, water-carriers, and negro laborers of the neighborhood. The many varieties of picantes have distinct names, but all are flavored with red pepper in abundance. [Illustration: PERUVIAN INFANTRY AND CAVALRY.] "There was formerly a custom in Peru, on occasions of formality, for the host and hostess to eat by themselves, beforehand, and take nothing during the progress of the ceremonious meal. They sat at opposite ends of the table, and were supposed to be attending to the wants of their guests. The same custom prevails in some parts of Russia, but is passing away there as it is here. "Another bit of table etiquette formerly prevailing in Peru, and not yet entirely unknown, was to select some delicate morsel from the dish before you, and hand it on your fork to a lady of the party. She would return the compliment, and sometimes it was made rather surprising to the stranger when she took the morsel in her fingers, and placed it in the mouth of the one who had paid her the compliment. I am told that this latter part of the ceremonial, based on the correctness of the adage that fingers were made before forks, was confined to the interior provinces, and was not fashionable in Lima." [Illustration: A PASSAGE OF POLITENESS.] CHAPTER IX. EQUESTRIANS AND THEIR COSTUMES.--LADIES OF LIMA.--EXCURSIONS AMONG RUINS.--PACHACAMAC, A HOLY CITY.--THE ANCIENT PERUVIANS.--ORIGIN OF THE INCA GOVERNMENT. [Illustration: A PERUVIAN CAVALIER.]