BAY OF CALLAO 389 



one hundred and fifty miles the margin of a grand basin or 

 plain ; this, from its outline, manifestly must once have been a 

 lake, or more probably an inland arm of the sea, as may be 

 inferred from the presence of iodic salts in the saline stratum. 

 The surface of the plain is 3300 feet above the Pacific. 



\gth. — We anchored in the Bay of Callao, the seaport of 

 Lima, the capital of Peru. We stayed here six weeks, but 

 from the troubled state of public affairs I saw very little of 

 the country. During our whole visit the climate was far from 

 being so delightful as it is generally represented. A dull 

 heavy bank of clouds constantly hung over the land, so that 

 during the first sixteen days I had only one view of the 

 Cordillera behind Lima. These mountains, seen in stages, one 

 above the other, through openings in the clouds, had a very 

 grand appearance. It is almost become a proverb, that rain 

 never falls in the lower part of Peru. Yet this can hardly be 

 considered correct ; for during almost every day of our visit 

 there was a thick drizzling mist, which was sufficient to make 

 the streets muddy and one's clothes damp : this the people 

 are pleased to call Peruvian dew. That much rain does not 

 fall is very certain, for the houses are covered only with flat 

 roofs made of hardened mud ; and on the mole ship-loads of 

 wheat were piled up, being thus left for weeks together without 

 any shelter. 



I cannot say I liked the very little I saw of Peru : in 

 summer, however, it is said that the climate is much pleasanter. 

 In all seasons, both inhabitants and foreigners suffer from 

 severe attacks of ague. This disease is common on the whole 

 coast of Peru, but is unknown in the interior. The attacks of 

 illness which arise from miasma never fail to appear most 

 mysterious. So difficult is it to judge from the aspect of a 

 country, whether or not it is healthy, that if a person had 

 been told to choose within the tropics a situation appearing 

 favourable for health, very probably he would have named this 

 coast. The plain round the outskirts of Callao is sparing!)' 

 covered with a coarse grass, and in some parts there are a few 

 stagnant, though very small, pools of water. The miasma, in 

 all probability, arises from these : for the town of Arica was 

 similarly circumstanced, and its healthiness was much improved 



