In Lima and Callao, increased attention is paid to business every year, and the days of fiesta, which once numbered almost as many as those devoted to work, are being constantly reduced, even the holidays that remain, though none the less thoroughly enjoyed, having lost many colonial features. Carnival, the gayest holiday festival of the year, is now quite a subdued celebration compared with what it was in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when “Lima was no more than a city of Andalusia transplanted to the New World, with all the extravagances of the romantic, artistic, and audacious spirit of old Seville, Malaga, and Cordova.” The freedom of the Carnival season then pervaded all ranks of society, and for three days no one thought of anything but pleasure. As late as the end of the eighteenth century, the mask and domino were _costumes de rigueur_ for Carnival, and fancy dress balls were given in many private residences. The Viceroy Amat made the Carnival season one of unprecedented gayety, with bull fights, promenades in the Avenida de Acho, and a _bal masque_ at night. One can imagine the charm of these festivities in the delightful climate of Lima, with the soft music of the guitar and the mandolin vibrating on the night air under a dozen balconies, and the dance of the _mariquita_ and the _fandango_ keeping time to a clicking of castanets in hundreds of gayly decorated _salas_. The _saya y manto_ played its part, and many a jealous episode followed the rivalry among young Limeños for the favor of a glance from the one eye that looked out tantalizingly through a _tapada_. The custom of deluging the passer-by with the contents of a water-jug was formerly more general than it is to-day, when the little red _globo_ of scented water is the chief weapon of Carnival sport. The _globo_, when filled, is about one-fourth the size of a toy balloon, and is made of the same material, breaking easily and splashing its contents over the victim at whom it is thrown. Though Carnival is still a merry holiday, modern municipal ordinances are annually restricting its more extravagant features. [Illustration: THE AMERICAN LEGATION AT LIMA.]