352 PERU. [CHAP. xvr. 



cryptogamic vegetation, and a few flowers cover the summit. Oa 

 the hills near Lima, at a height but little greater, the ground is 

 carpeted with moss, and beds of beautiful yellow lilies, called 

 Amancaes. This indicates a very much greater degree of humidity, 

 than at a corresponding height at Iquique. Proceeding northward 

 of Lima, the climate becomes damper, till on the banks of the 

 Guyaquil, nearly under the equator, we find the most luxuriant 

 forests. The change, however, from the sterile coast of Peru to 

 that fertile land is described as taking place rather abruptly in tho 

 latitude of Cape Blanco, two degrees south of Guyaquil. 



Callao is a filthy, ill-built, small seaport. The inhabitants, both 

 here and at Lima, present every imaginable shade of mixture, 

 between European, Negro, and Indian blood. They appear a 

 depraved, drunken set of people. The atmosphere is loaded with 

 foul smells, and that peculiar one, which may be perceived in 

 almost every town within the tropics, was here very strong. The 

 fortress, which withstood Lord Cochrane's long siege, has an im- 

 posing appearance. But the President, during our stay, sold the 

 brass guns, and proceeded to dismantle parts of it. The reason 

 assigned was, that he had not an officer to whom he could trust 

 so important a charge. He himself had good reasons for thinking 

 so, as he had obtained the presidentship by rebelling while in 

 charge of this same fortress. After we left South America, he 

 paid the penalty in the usual manner, by being conquered, taken 

 prisoner, and shot. 



Lima stands on a plain in a valley, formed during the gradual 

 retreat of the sea. It is seven miles from Callao, and is elevated 

 500 feet above it ; but from the slope being very gradual, the road 

 appears absolutely level ; so that when at Lima it is difficult to 

 believe one has ascended even one hundred feet : Humboldt has 

 remarked on this singularly deceptive case. Steep, barren hills 

 rise like islands from the plain, which is divided, by straight 

 mud-walls, into large green fields. In these scarcely a tree grows 

 excepting a few willows, and an occasional clump of bananas and 

 of oranges. The city of Lima is now in a wretched state of decay : 

 the streets are nearly unpaved ; and heaps of 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 



