240 PER U. 
and boats. The streets of Callao have been made much wider, and 
the town has a more decent appearance. Water is conducted from 
the canal to the mole, and a railway takes the goods to the fortress, 
which is now converted into a depot. This place, the seaport of 
Lima, must be one of the great resorts of shipping, not only for its 
safety, but for the convenience of providing supplies. The best idea 
of its trade will be formed from the number of vessels that frequent it. 
I have understood that there is generally about the same number as 
we found in port, namely, forty-two, nine of which were ships of war : 
five American, two French, one Chilian, and thirty-live Peruvian 
merchantmen, large and small. 
The Castle of Callao has become celebrated in history, and has long 
been the key of Peru. Whichever party had it in possession, were 
considered as the possessors of the country. It is now converted to a 
better use, viz. : that of a custom-house, and is nearly dismantled. 
Only five of its beautiful guns remain, out of one hundred and forty- 
five, which it is said to have mounted. During our visit there the 
Chilian troops had possession of the country, which they had held 
since the battle of Yungai. Most of the buildings are undergoing 
repairs since the late contest. 
It is said that the fortress is to be demolished, and thus the peace 
of Callao will in a great measure be secured. 
The principal street of Callao runs parallel with the bay. There 
are a few tolerably well-built two-story houses on the main street, 
which is paved. These houses are built of adobes, and have flat 
roofs, which is no inconvenience here, in consequence of the absence 
of heavy rains. The interior of the houses is of the commonest kind 
of work. The partition walls are built of cane, closely laced together. 
The houses of the common people are of one story, and about ten feet 
high; some of them have a grated window, but most of them only a 
doorway and one room. Others are seen that hardly deserve the 
name ot houses, being nothing more than mud walls, with holes 
covered with a mat, and the same overhead. 
The outskirts of Callao deserve mentioning only for their excessive 
filth, and were it not for the fine climate it would be the hot-bed of 
pestilence. One feels glad to escape from this neighbourhood. 
The donations to the clergy or priests and the two small chapels 
are collected on Saturdays from the inhabitants. On the evening of 
the same day, the devotees of the church, headed by the priest, carry 
a small portable altar through the streets, decorated with much tinsel 
