Gay troops of dancers, clothed in fantastic dresses of
gaudy-colored silk, followed the procession, strewing flowers and
chanting verses as they went, in honor of the president. They
were designed as emblematical of the different cities of the
colony; and they bore legends or mottoes in rhyme on their caps,
intimating their loyal devotion to the Crown, and evincing much
more loyalty in their composition, it may be added, than poetical
merit. *26 In this way, without beat of drum, or noise of
artillery, or any of the rude accompaniments of war, the good
president made his peaceful entry into the City of the Kings,
while the air was rent with the acclamations of the people, who
hailed him as their "Father and Deliverer, the Saviour of their
country.!" *27
[Footnote 26: Fernandez has collected these flowers of colonial
poesy, which prove that the old Conquerors were much more expert
with the sword than with the pen. Hist. del Peru, Parte 1, lib.
2, cap. 93.]
[Footnote 27: "Fue recibimiento mui solemne, con universal
alegria del Pueblo, por verse libre de Tiranos; i toda la Gente,
a voces, bendecia al Presidente, i le llamaban: Padre,
Restaurador, i Pacificador, dando gracias a Dios, por haver
vengado las injurias hechas a su Divina Magestad." Herrera, Hist
General, dec. 8, lib. 4, cap. 17.]
But, however grateful was this homage to Gasca's heart, he was
not a man to waste his time in idle vanities. He now thought
only by what means he could eradicate the seeds of disorder which
shot up so readily in this fruitful soil, and how he could place
the authority of the government on a permanent basis.
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