1839.] HARBOR OF CALLAO. 109 



placed at the head of each, contains the name of the person 

 interred beneath, and, in many instances, poetic inscriptions, 

 commemorative, alike, of his virtues, and of the friendship of 

 his surviving comrades.* 



The bay of Callab is one of the largest and calmest on the 

 western coast of South America. The roadstead is decidedly 

 the best in Peru ; there being good anchorage in from seven 

 to ten fathoms. In former times, a raft or float, called the 

 balsa, formed of two long skin bags, blown up like bladders, 

 and covered with a light platform, was used to load and un- 

 load vessels ; afterwards a rude pier was constructed, behind 

 which vessels of heavy burden could discharge or receive car- 

 goes, in perfect security from the breakers ; and, more re- 

 cently, a fine mole has been erected, surrounded by an iron 

 railing. The beach is flat, and for the most part shingly ; 

 about the mouths of the Rimac and the Rio de Chillon, two 

 small rivers that debouch into the bay, it is somewhat marshy. 

 The harbor is, or rather was, well fortified. Two massive 

 fortresses built in low situations, extending far out into the 

 sea, once commanded the harbor and its entrances, and the 

 plain between Callao and Lima.t The northern fortress con- 

 sists of two castles, the largest of which the Spaniards named 



* Some of these inscriptions arc as quaint as those on the tomb-stones in the 

 old English churchyards. One of the wooden monuments, erected to the memory 

 of Thomas Hedrick, a lad belonging to the U. S. ship of the line North Carolina, 

 has the following : 



" In vain had youth its flight impeded, 

 And hope its passage had delayed ; 

 Death's mandate all has superseded, — 

 The latest order Tom obeyed." 



Another, reared above the remains of one of H. B. M. Royal Marines, says : 



" I 'm here at rest from busy scenes ; 

 I once belonged to the Royal Marines; 

 I 'm now confined within these borders, 

 Remaining here for further orders." 



f The principal fortress is now used for custom-house purposes, and tide- 

 waiters and messengers, utterly guiltless of everything like cleanliness, occupy 

 the places once honored by the presence of the brave Rodil and his gallant 

 brethren in arms. 



