TOPOGEAPHY OF PERU. 303 



was first called, bear the symbolic star which guided the royal Magi to the cradle 

 of a God. 



But all Pizarro's hopes have not been realised. Rimac, softened to Lima in 

 the mouth of the Spanish settlers, has not maintained the position assigned to it 

 by the Conquerors, a position of which it made little use except to oppress the 

 native populations in the name of the King of Spain and of the Holy Inquisition. 

 Like Seville and Yalladolid, Lima had its auto-da-fes, and its prisons were 

 ever crowded with real or suspected rebels and heretics sent from all the Pacific 

 coastlands between Panama and the island of Chiloe. So far from being the 

 " Empire City " of the New World, it has been outstripped by several places even 

 in the Southern Continent. 



Its position at the outlet of a valle}^, affording free play to the cool breezes of 

 the snowy mountain, gives it a lower and pleasanter temperature than that of the 

 neighbouring towns, the mean range of the thermometer being, according to Tschudi, 

 little more than 8° Fahr. But although equable, the climate is far from healthy, 

 the foggy winter season bringing fevers and dysentery, which in some years 

 assumes an epidemic character. The mortality constantly exceeds the birth- 

 rate, and the population has also suffered much from wars and political disorders. 

 Moreover, for many years Lima was little more than the nominal centre of the 

 Peruvian republic. The lack of easy communications severed its relations with 

 the remoter provinces, so that Cuzco, Arequipa and other centres of attraction 

 were able to challenge its political preponderance. 



Although little over three miles in a straight line from the coast, Lima 

 stands, not on the lowlands, but on a triangular plateau skirting the left bank 

 of the Pimac, at a height of 575 feet above sea-level. Around the central 

 quarter as planned by Pizarro have been developed some less geometrical 

 quarters, while on the opposite side of the river, here spanned by two bridges, 

 the new town of San Lazaro has sprung up at the foot of the San Cristobal 

 eminence (1,415 feet), which is crowned by a fortress. The houses, usually of 

 two stories, are built of adobe, and are disposed in a square lound a central patio 

 in the Moorish style adopted by the Spaniards. 



The chief edifice is the cathedral, which was begun by Pizarro and finished 

 in ninety years. Few religious edifices contain such a wealth of gold and gems ; 

 the very pillar's are of massive silver, and several other churches show an almost 

 equally lavish display of the precious metals and marbles. But, on the other 

 hand, the monastery of San Francisco, formerly the richest in the city, is falling 

 to ruins, while the palace of the Inquisition is now the Senate House. Statues 

 and fountains adorn the squares and avenues ; but the only local industries are 

 those concerned with the production of objects of primary necessity. Nothing 

 is manufactured for the export trade, and the commerce of the place is almost 

 entirely in the hands of foreign merchants. 



Amongst the learned institutions are the University of San Marcos, the oldest 

 in South America, dating from the middle of the sixteenth century ; the library, 

 enriched by treasures transferfed from the convents or bequeathed by private 



