248 PERU, 



The dew (almozo) of Lima is never so great as to produce running 

 water, yet it is more like rain than a Scotch mist. 



The peculiarity of there being no rain, has been accounted for in 

 several ways, but not to me satisfactorily. The prevailing cold and 

 dry winds from the southward sweep over the western shores of the 

 continent ; having a great capacity for moisture, they absorb it as they 

 advance to the northward, from every thing. On reaching the latitude 

 of 12° $., they cease, and having become saturated, now rise to a 

 sufficient height, where they are condensed by the cold strata, and 

 again deposited on the mountains in almost constant rains. This will 

 account for the aridity in the high Cordilleras of Chili, as well as for 

 the existence of the Desert of Atacama, the want of rain on the coast 

 of Upper Peru ; and at the same time, for the moisture of the high 

 Cordilleras of Peru, which will be shortly spoken of. It will be remem- 

 bered that our parties on the Cordilleras of Chili found the aridity to 

 increase on ascending, to the very edge of the perpetual snow, and all 

 the plants were of a thorny character. 



The records of Lima mention the falling of rain only four'times in 

 the eighteenth century, and the occurrence of thunder and lightning an 

 equal number of times. But this applies to a small part of Peru on!y 9 

 namely, the country bordering the coast, some fifty or sixty miles in 

 width, around Lima. It will be seen that our party who visited the 

 interior, when at the height of ten thousand feet, entered a region sub- 

 ject to rain, and on the crest of the mountains the soil was kept 

 perfectly moist by the frequent snows and rain. 



Mr. Bartlett, our Charge d'Affaires, gave me the range of the ther- 

 mometer at Lima throughout the year, as being from 60° to 85° ; 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 preju- 

 dicial 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 July, 64°. 



The Rimac derives its waters exclusively from the snows of the 



