SUPPOSED ANCIENT BEACHES. 113 



the lower class in Lima to observe that on these 

 occasions Mr. Nation carried a loaded revolver in his 

 breast-pocket. 



Amongst various items of information received from 

 Mr. Nation, I was especially interested in the facts 

 which he had observed in the neighbourhood of Lima 

 regarding the disintegration of the exposed volcanic 

 rocks. As he was kind enough to give me a written 

 memorandum on the subject, along with specimens of 

 the objects referred to, I think it better to give the 

 substance in his own words. 



" In one of the earlier editions of his ' Principles of 

 Geology,' Sir Charles Lyell, on the authority of Mr. 

 Cruikshank, speaks of the evidence afforded of a 

 considerable rise of land in the neighbourhood of Lima 

 by the appearance of the surface of hard green sand- 

 stone rocks hollowed out into precisely the forms 

 which they assume between high and low water mark 

 on the shores of the Pacific, while immediately below 

 these water- worn lines are ancient beaches strewn with 

 rounded blocks. One of these cliffs appears on the 

 hill behind the Banos del Pingro, about seven hundred 

 feet above the contiguous valley ; another occurs at 

 Amancaes, about two hundred feet above the sea ; * 

 and others at intermediate elevations.' Mr. Nation 

 remarks that, having seen these appearances soon 

 after his arrival at Lima, continued observation during 

 more than twenty-five years has satisfied him not only 

 that the hollows spoken of in the surface of the rocks 



* The heights are certainly incorrect. The base of the hill of 

 Amancaes is nearly seven hundred feet above sea-level, and Mr. 

 Nation states that the two localities mentioned by Mr. Cruikshank are 

 at about the same elevation. 



