268 PERU. [CHAP. xvi. 



filth are piled up in all directions, where the black gallinazos, tame as 

 poultry, pick up bits of carrion. The houses have generally an upper 

 story, built, on account of the earthquakes, of plastered woodwork ; 

 but some of the old ones, which are now used by several families, are 

 immensely large, and would rival in suites of apartments the most 

 magnificent in any place. Lima, the City of the Kings, must formerly 

 have been a splendid town. The extraordinary number of churches 

 gives it, even at the present day, a peculiar and striking character, 

 especially when viewed from a short distance. 



One day I went out with some merchants to hunt in the immediate 

 vicinity of the city. Our sport was very poor ; but I had an opportunity 

 of seeing the ruins of one of the ancient Indian villages, with its 

 mound like a natural hill in the centre. The remains of houses, 

 enclosures, irrigating streams, and burial mounds, scattered over this 

 plain, cannot fail to give one a high idea of the condition and number 

 of the ancient population. When their earthenware, woollen clothes, 

 utensils of elegant forms cut out of the hardest rocks, tools of copper, 

 ornaments of precious stones, palaces, and hydraulic works, are 

 considered, it is impossible not to respect the considerable advance 

 made by them in the arts of civilization. The burial mounds, called 

 Huacas, are really stupendous; although in some places they appear 

 to be natural hills incased and modelled. 



There is also another and very different class of ruins, which 

 possesses some interest, namely, those of old Callao, overwhelmed by 

 the great earthquake of 1746, and its accompanying wave. The destruc- 

 tion must have been more complete even than at Talcahuano. Quanti- 

 ties of shingle almost conceal the foundations of the walls, and vast 

 masses of brickwork appear to have been whirled about like pebbles by 

 the retiring waves. It has been stated that the land subsided during 

 this memorable shock ; I could not discover any proof of this ; yet it 

 seems far from improbable, for the form of the coast must certainly have 

 undergone some change since the foundation of the old town ; as no 

 people in their senses would willingly have chosen for their building 

 place, the narrow spit of shingle on which the ruins now stand. Since 

 our voyage, M. Tschudi has come to the conclusion, by the comparison 

 of old and modern maps, that the coast both north and south of Lima 

 has certainly subsided. 



On the island of San Lorenzo, there are very satisfactory proofs of 

 elevation within the recent period ; this of course is not opposed to the 

 belief, of a small sinking of the ground having subsequently taken place. 

 The side of this island fronting the Bay of Callao, is worn into three 

 obscure terraces, the lower one of which is covered by a bed a mile in 

 length, almost wholly composed of shells of eighteen species, now living 

 in the adjoining sea. The height of this bed is eighty-five feet. Many 

 of the shells are deeply corroded, and have a much older and decayed 

 appearance than those at the height of 500 or 600 feet on the coast of Chile. 

 These shells are associated with much common salt, a little sulphate of 

 (both probably left by the evaporation of the spray, as the land slowly 

 rose) lime, together with sulphate of soda and muriate of lime. They rest 



