FIRST VISIT TO PERU. 



19 



very heart of the capital ; and in process of time 

 acquired sufficient influence in the surrounding 

 districts, to cut off the principal supply of pro- 

 visions to the capital by land. The port of Callao 

 being at the same time closely blockaded by Lord 

 Cochrane, the inhabitants of Lima were reduced 

 to the greatest extremity, while every other part 

 of the country was enjoying freedom and plenty. 



CHAPTER IV. 



PERU. 



First Visit to Lima, while Peru was still in Possession of 

 the Spaniards.— Contrast between Peru and Chili. — Depo- 

 sition of the Viceroy. — Visit to the ex-Viceroy, Pezuela. 



On the 5th of February 1821, we anchored in 

 Callao Roads, after a passage of nine days from 

 Valparaiso. The distance from Chili is about 1300 

 miles, and as the wind is always favourable and 

 moderate, a more agreeable voyage can hardly be 

 conceived. Our studding-sails, indeed, were set 

 on both sides all the way, the truest proof of a fair 

 wind, while the climate was the most delightful 

 possible, and the sea quite smooth. 



The return passage is another affair, and requires 

 a totally different sort of navigation. The wind 

 near the shore, and even as far off as the straight 

 line joining Valparaiso and Lima, blows constantly 

 from south or S.S.E., consequently, it would be 

 impossible to make the passage directly back. 

 When a ship leaves the coast of Peru, therefore, 

 she steers boldly off into the middle of the S.E. 

 trade- wind, which blows steadily at some distance 

 from the shore. In proportion as the ship gains 

 southing by standing off, she finds the breeze gra- 

 dually blowing more from the east, so that she is 

 perpetually inclining her head more and more to- 

 wards the south. On reaching the latitude of 32° 

 or thereabouts, she will lose the trade-wind and 

 get into what are called the Variables, which 

 generally blow from the westward ; with these a 

 course is readily shaped to regain the coast. By 

 using a proper degree of vigilance a man-of-war 

 may make this passage in less than three weeks, 

 and it has once been made by a frigate in less than 

 fourteen days. In former times, before these mat- 

 ters were scientifically dealt with, three months 

 was the usual period. 



I had quite a levee next morning in my cabin, 

 consisting of people who came on board for news, 

 or who had intelligence to communicate which 

 they thought would be acceptable. We had, of 

 course, much to tell that was interesting and new 

 to them ; for their information from Europe was 

 scanty and disjointed, having been received at ir- 

 regular intervals through the medium of casual 

 newspapers. I observed here what I had often 

 seen in other distant corners of the world, that 

 there is always a strange want of keeping amongst 

 the different parts of the knowledge which our 

 countrymen possess in respect to European affairs. 

 This knowledge, it will be remembered, is not 

 transmitted to them in regular order, but comes in 

 sudden quantities, and the arrangement of its parts 

 becomes curiously jumbled. Dates and incidents 

 are perpetually misplaced, effects precede their 

 causes, and the most unsubstantial rumours assume 



the place of well-known events. The most ridi- 

 culous anachronisms are thus for ever occurring, 

 and the actions of one man and one period ascribed 

 to totally different persons and different eras. 

 The most singular error of all, however, consists 

 in the false estimate which is formed of the impor- 

 tance of distant events. Frequently very insignifi- 

 cant circumstances will seem to threaten the sub- 

 version of the state, while the most important 

 transactions pass by unheeded. Their notions, 

 like the fashion of their dress, are two or three 

 years behind-hand ; and we could recognise in full 

 action prejudices, and fears, and expectations, 

 which we had left dead and gone ages before in 

 England. We heard people speaking just as we 

 might suppose persons at home to do, who should 

 be put to sleep for twenty or thirty months ; on 

 waking they would jumble what they recollected 

 of the world before their dozing, with some con- 

 fused reminiscences of their dreams. A stranger 

 to all this is apt to take a great deal of ineffectual 

 pains to rectify these mistakes in the minds of the 

 people to whom he is addressing his budget of news. 

 But it is always found impossible for persons at a 

 great distance to keep up with the current of re- 

 mote events, however much they may be interested 

 in them ; their view is so much dimmed by the in- 

 tervening time and space that nothing is seen dis- 

 tinctly, and what is very odd, but not unnatural, 

 the older impressions, which are often the falsest, 

 retain their ground in spite of new and correct in- 

 telligence. 



If the mistakes of our countrymen excited our 

 surprise, we were sometimes much more amused 

 by the total want of knowledge in the natives. 

 This morning, for instance, several gentlemen of 

 the country paid me a visit, and one of them, on 

 hearing me say we had lately come from England, 

 said, " Yes, — England is situated in the Baltic ? " 

 So much for their knowledge of European geo- 

 graphy ! But within the same hour I discovered 

 that I had made almost as grievous a mistake, 

 in their eyes, with respect to a Peruvian town, 

 Arequipa, which I imagined to be a sea-port, 

 whereas it lies a hundred and fifty miles in the 

 interior. 



At the time of our arrival, the state of Peru, 

 both domestic and political, was highly interesting, 

 though differing in almost every particular from 

 that of Chili. 



There is no circumstance which distinguishes 

 travels by land, from voyages by sea, more than 

 the different manner in which new countries are 

 brought under notice. On land the traveller is so 

 gradually introduced to new scenes, as scarcely to 

 be aware that he has passed a frontier, for the 

 manners of the adjacent territories often blend 

 themselves insensibly into one another. When 

 countries, on the other hand, are approached by 

 sea, the case is different ; for we are abruptly in- 

 troduced, while the impressions of the places we 

 have come from are fresh in our recollection, to a 

 totally new set of objects, which we are thus en- 

 abled to compare with those we have left. Even 

 when the two countries are in a great measure 

 similarly circumstanced, as in the case of the dif- 

 ferent South American states, there will always be 

 found a sufficient number of distinctions, arising 

 out of climate and other local causes, to diversify 

 the picture. 



c 2 



