60 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



crest of a tidal wave 5 miles down the 

 coast, 2 miles inland, and set down, en- 

 tirely unharmed, upon the beach, within 

 100 feet of the Andes (see page 70). 



In 1868 I was attached to the U. S. S. 

 "Wateree," then on duty in the South 

 Pacific — one of a class of boats built at 

 the close of our Civil War to ascend the 

 narrow, tortuous rivers of the South ; she 

 was termed a "double ender," having a 

 rudder at each end, and was quite flat- 

 bottomed — a conformation which, while 

 it did not add to her seaworthiness, en- 

 abled her to carry a large battery and 

 crew, and eventually saved our lives, in 

 the catastrophe which was soon to come 

 upon us. 



We had about finished our cruise and, 

 now that it was nearly over, were con- 

 gratulating ourselves that we had passed 

 safely through all the exciting phases of 

 our station, such as northers, revolutions, 

 yellow fever, and even earthquakes, for 

 we had experienced several shocks which 

 sent the natives screaming to the squares, 

 while we, with an ignorance soon to be 

 enlightened, smiled calmly at their fears 

 and made the usual remarks about "the 

 cowardly Dagos." 



AT ANCHOR AT ARICA 



August, 1868, found us quietly at 

 anchor off the pretty Peruvian town of 

 Arica, whither we had towed the old 

 United States store-ship "Fredonia" to 

 escape the ravages of yellow fever, then 

 desolating Callao and Lima. We had re- 

 ceived preparatory orders to go up the 

 coast to San Francisco, and had been at 

 anchor for six weeks overhauling boilers 

 and engines preparatory to the long trip. 

 This unusually prolonged stay in one port 

 had given us opportunities to form pleas- 

 ant acquaintances and friends among the 

 hospitable citizens, and we congratulated 

 ourselves on the fact that our lines had 

 been cast in such a charming place. 



Arica was, for a Peruvian town, beau- 

 tiful, having. about 10,000 inhabitants, it 

 was supposed — I say supposed, for the 

 inquisitive census-taker had never made 

 his rounds, and one arrived at population 

 as the Jerseyman weighs his pig — by 

 guessing. 



Being the only port of entry for rich 

 and prosperous Bolivia, behind her ; con- 



nected with Tacna, 40 miles distant, by 

 what then was the only railroad in Peru, 

 her inhabitants had grown rich and cul- 

 tured on the imports and exports that 

 crowded the large and imposing custom- 

 house and the shipping that thronged the 

 open roadstead. 



the; situation of arica 



The town was picturesquely situated 

 in a cleft or valley running up into the 

 seacoast range of the Andes. Through 

 the valley ran a little stream, which fur- 

 nished the water for irrigation, and 

 caused the desert to blossom with a fer- 

 tility that never ceased to surprise. It 

 was blocked in, on the one hand, by the 

 perpendicular cliffs of the Morro, 500 

 feet high, which, without a single break 

 to mar its imposing front, was ever lashed 

 by the waves of the mighty Pacific; on 

 the other, by gradually sloping heights, 

 rising one above the other until lost in 

 the clouds. 



The town was of unknown antiquity, 

 there having been a large city of the 

 Incas located there when the Spaniards 

 overran the country, and tradition asserts 

 that even the Incas found a people dwell- 

 ing there when they, in their turn, had 

 been conquerors. 



Favored with a most charming climate, 

 with a temperature varying from 70 to 

 80 degrees ; the cloudless blue of the sky 

 never darkened by storm or rain ; fevers 

 and epidemics unknown ; it seemed an 

 Eden until we found our "crumpled rose 

 leaves" in the form of a myriad of the 

 most active and voracious fleas that ever 

 drove a human being distracted, and fur- 

 ther discovered that a regular deluge 

 would be necessary to remove the cause 

 of a lively series of unsavory odors which 

 would have thrown the famed city of 

 Cologne into the background. 



Behind these minor discomforts lurked 

 the ever-present fear in the native mind 

 of another earthquake, for Arica seemed 

 a sort of "head center" for such seismic 

 disturbances, having been twice before 

 destroyed, with great loss of life. 



OUT OF SYMPATHY WITH NATIVE FEARS 



In blissful ignorance of what a terre- 

 mote (earth mover) really was, we did 

 not sympathize with their fears, and we 



