t835.] ruins at lima. 365 



The houses have generally an upper storey, 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 

 iiYimediate 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, irrigat- 

 ing 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 earthen- 

 ware, 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 civilisation. 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 vVave. The destruction must have 

 been more complete even than at Talcahuano. Quantities 

 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 Im- 

 probable, 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 com- 

 parison 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 



