ANDACOLLO ^LIMA PANAMA JAMAICA. 145 



coast, but is now in a state of complete ruin. It will be 

 remembered that this place was almost completely swept 

 away by the earthquake wave five years ago. At that 

 time an American man-of-war was lying at anchor in 

 the harbour; the wave took the vessel bodily up and 

 deposited it some distance inland. I went to see her, 

 and, sure enough, there she was half a mile from the sea, 

 on her keel, and perfect in every respect ; her engines 

 and guns were taken out of her, and she was sold as she 

 stood. Nothing, however, could be done with her, and 

 she is fast filling up with sand. I had heard an immense 

 deal about the wave, but the sight of this ship gave me 

 a better idea of the might of a tidal '^ bore " than any 

 amount of description could have done. I believe not a 

 single man was lost aboard her. 



Callao agreeably disappointed me. It is generally 

 abused in books as a filthy, dirty seaport, and so it 

 may have been once ; now, however, I consider it quite 

 equal, if not superior, to Valparaiso, but then, as I have 

 already described, Valparaiso is not much to brag about. 

 Still, the streets in Callao are in a shocking state, and 

 the hotels are bad and very dear. There are some large 

 and important works being carried on in the harbour, 

 which will render the port one of the finest on the coast. 

 I only stayed in Callao one night, as I was anxious 

 to get on to Lima, distant seven miles, and in the 

 morning I took the train to the capital ; there is nothing 

 of interest on the road, except that it takes about forty 

 minutes to get to the end of it. 



Lima is really about 500 feet above the level of the 

 sea, but the ascent is so gradual that the fact is not 

 perceptible. I like Lima as a town; it has the air of 

 Spanish antiquity about it that no other coast city in 



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