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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Publishers' Photo Service 



THE HAKISOR OF CAELAO, PERU, WHERE THE ATLANTIC FXEET PAID ITS CAEE OE 



COURTESY 



Chief seaport of Peru, Callao is also the gateway to the capital, Lima, situated seven 

 miles inland. It is a town of 30,000 inhabitants, mainly Peruvian, but with a goodly sprinkling 

 of Indians, Japanese, and Chinese. The American fleet was fortunate in visiting the city 

 sufficiently early in the year to avoid "the painter," an unpleasant odor which fills the harbor 

 in March and April. The phenomenon is attributed by some to the remains of innumerable 

 small dead fish brought in by the tide. 



moisture out of the breezes which sweep 

 up the Amazon Valley from the Atlantic. 

 Once in seven years, or thereabouts, a 

 little rain falls in the dry belt. 



For years Peru accepted this condition 

 without demur. There were advantages 

 in the absolute dryness of the air. 



Not far from Lima is a buried city, 

 four thousand years old, in which the 

 1 louses were built of unburned clay. 

 Their fronts were molded in crude de- 

 signs by the Indian architects, and the 

 tracery has remained unharmed by the 

 passage of years. Bodies of animals 

 found on the plains have been mummified 

 without decay. 



One would think that some one would 

 have reasoned that cities cannot exist 

 without water, and that there are abun- 

 dant evidences to prove that at one time 

 this coast was extremely populous. But 

 no one did. 



PUTTING ANCIENT IRRIGATION DITCHES 

 TO WORK AGAIN 



Then a foreigner made a discovery. 

 Wandering through the arid region, he 

 saw what he thought might be the re- 

 mains of ancient irrigation projects. A 

 little investigation convinced him that he 

 had under his eyes a complete irrigation 

 system, built by the Incas or their prede- 



