•256 PER U. 
during our stay, which was in their winter months of May and June, 
the range was from 65° to 69°. 
Fire is not used often, but from the continual dampness there is a 
cold and clammy feeling, that is exceedingly uncomfortable and pre- 
judicial to health. Lima has certainly the reputation of being a 
healthy place— how obtained I know not— but it certainly does not 
deserve it. 
The interments have annually averaged over three thousand five 
hundred, in a population amounting by the best accounts to no more 
than forty-five thousand. Many of these deaths are those of strangers, 
and the climate has always been fatal to the Indians. 
During our stay at Callao, the temperature of the air varied from 
57° to 63°. On July 4th, it stood at the same point in both places. 
The temperature of the Rimac on the 11th of June, was 69° to 71°; 
on the 4th of July, 64°. 
The Rimac derives its waters exclusively from the snows of the 
Cordilleras. It is a mountain torrent throughout its whole course. 
The quantity of water in it is small. The width at its mouth is about 
thirty feet, and one foot deep. It has not sufficient force to break a 
passage through the beach to the sea, and the water filters throuo-h 
the pebbly soil. 
In Peru, when the land is irrigated, it is one continued vegetation 
throughout the year. Harvests are gathered in every season, and 
flowers and fruits may be seen at the same time. On the east side of 
the Cordilleras the harvest takes place about the middle of June. 
Tarma and Jauja are the first cultivated districts. The » montanas," 
as they call the forests, are situated at the eastern base of the Andes. 
Their crest is estimated to be thirty or forty leagues from the coast, 
and it is about fifteen leagues farther to the montanas. The ther- 
mometer during the jaunt to the Cordilleras ranged from 50° to the 
freezing point of Fahrenheit. 
During our visit, the Chilian troops were in possession of the 
country, and Lima was garrisoned by them. They were a sickly 
and worn-out body of men, the tertiana prevailing to a great extent 
among them. They were apparently well clad, new clothing having 
been issued to them at the expense of the Peruvian treasury. They 
were all, I was told, extremely anxious to return to Chili. Although 
the nominal power was in the President, Gamarra, or the acting 
Governor, Lafuente, until his arrival, yet Bulnes commanded and 
watched over their proceedings. The Peruvians are to all intents 
