CHAPTER XI.

CALLAO-LIMA-NATIVE COSTUMES-PIZARRO'S CROSS-THE GREAT BELL

-BULL-FIGHT-LAMAS

PERUVIAN WATERING-PLACE INDIAN

CEMETERIES-ANCIENT CIVILIZATION-IDEA OF ENGLISH BEAUTY

-RELIGIOUS PROCESSIONS.

I LEFT Valparaiso about the 1st of March, in H.M.S. 'Inconstant,' for Callao, and after a pleasant voyage of twelve days arrived in Callao Bay. The 'Inconstant,' a fine frigate of thirty-six guns, was commanded by Captain John Sheppard. I need not therefore add, that she was in the highest state of discipline, and first-rate order. She remained only one day at Callao, to take in water, and sailed for California a few hours after I landed.

The harbour is considered one of the best on this coast; but the others are so bad, that this is not saying much for it. The bay seems to exhale a disagreeable smell, particularly in the evening, when it is almost like that of bilgewater, and has the same effect on the white paint of a ship. Callao is a wretched town, full of ship-chandlers and grog-shops, and the dirty streets are crowded with sailors of all nations.

Being the seaport of Lima, which is only seven miles distant, and which is plainly visible from the anchorage, it has, of course, a good deal of trade; but the principal merchants live in the capital.

To the south-west of the bay is the steep island of San Lorenzo, so barren, sandy, and parched, that it looks like an African mountain brought from the shores of the Nile.

The plain on which Lima stands appears nearly flat, though the city stands five hundred feet above the sea. The slope is quite gradual. The road from Callao to Lima is of the most execrable description, and a disgrace to Peru, if anything can be. It was originally well laid out by the Spaniards, and was straight, broad, and well-paved, the last three miles being edged with a dwarf wall, and planted with rows of trees overshadowing the footpath, where seats were placed at intervals, forming a fine approach to the City of Kings. Now the pavement is broken up, and the loose stones are lying about in heaps; the wall is nearly destroyed, and the road is full of holes, and covered with a thick layer of dust. The trees alone remain; but some President— no one can tell when-bent on improvement, may cut them down. A few years ago there was a fine Alameda on the banks of the river, but the President cut it down and replanted it, as he said, "with trees of a better sort," which will take a long time to come to any perfection. The authorities do not like to mend the roads, or lay out any money for improvements, as when they lay their accounts before the public, they become unpopular, and are not elected again. The consequence is, that though omnibuses run from the port to the city, each drawn by five horses, they nearly upset at every journey, and go pitching into the

holes, and over the heaps of stones, like a ship in a heavy sea. The fare is two dollars, and it is three dollars to Chorillos, a distance of nine miles.

Lima is situated on the banks of the river Rimac, whence it derives its name, the Spaniards having mistaken the Indian designation of the stream. It is a fine rapid mountain torrent, crossed by a massive stone bridge, built as all other works of the old Spaniards were, to last for ever. It is said to have cost so much, that the home government sent to inquire whether it was built of gold or silver. The city has a fine appearance at a distance, both from its situation at the foot of the rocky hills, and the number of its fine domes and towers. It does not improve, however, on a closer inspection, as many of the buildings are of adobie, or unburnt bricks (so-called from the Arabic word), and some of the ornaments and urns, where broken, show that they are only fremes of wicker-work covered with plaster. The streets are at right angles, but have few other pretensions to regularity. They look oriental, and put me much in mind of some of the streets in Grand Cairo, the houses having projecting windows of lattice-work as in the east. The buildings are flat-roofed, and some of the old ones, built by the Spanish grandees, are handsomely ornamented with carved stonework; but Lima has declined fearfully from its former magnificence. Liberty seems to have ruined these countries, and of all governments that of a republic seems least adapted to them. They are always fighting and quarrelling, and the six republics, Buenos Ayres, Chili, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Mexico, usually average more than a revolution amongst them every year, and are often the scene of two at once.