Dec] 



DESTRUCTION OF CALLAO. 



179 



the curvature of the bay : this street is intersected by two or three 

 others, which are of course very short, except the one which commences 

 the great road to Lima. 



The houses generally are of one story only, with flat roofs, which 

 is of no inconvenience in a country like this, where it seldom or never 

 rains. For the greater security against earthquakes, these buildings 

 are constructed in a peculiar manner, and covered with exceedingly 

 light materials. In the first place, the size and shape of the intended 

 edifice is carefully marked out upon the ground which it is intended to 

 occupy. Then, instead of proceeding to lay a foundation as we do, 

 they dig deep holes in the ground along the line which marks the build- 

 ing's dimensions, about six feet apart, in which they firmly set posts 

 of twelve or eighteen inches in circumference, and of sufficient height 

 to form a dwelling. On the outside of these posts long sticks of bam- 

 boo, an inch or more in diameter, are fastened in a horizontal position, 

 with thongs of undressed hide. They commence at the ground, where 

 they lash on three bamboos close together ; two feet above them, they 

 lash on three more, and so on to the top, leaving about the same dis- 

 tance between each triplet of bamboos : through these horizontal layers 

 more slender bamboos are woven perpendicularly as closely as possible. 

 On the outside of all is put a coat of plastering, and the walls of the 

 house are completed. The roofs are of cane, and are woven and plastered 

 in the same manner ; so that in the most violent earthquake, unless the 

 ground be broken, nothing can fall but bamboos and plaster, the weight 

 of which might bruise, but would hardly fracture a limb, much less 

 destroy life. 



The old town was differently constructed, and " great was the fall 

 thereof ;" but though the earthquake was the cause of its destruction, 

 it was not the immediate instrument. " The sea," says Ulloa, " re- 

 ceding to a considerable distance from the shore, returned in moun- 

 tainous waves, foaming with the violence of the agitation, and suddenly 

 turned Callao and the neighbouring country into a sea. This was not, 

 however, totally performed by the first swell of the waves ; for the sea, 

 retiring farther" (so far, says another writer, as to leave the shipping 

 dry), " returned with still more impetuosity, — the stupendous masses 

 of water covering both the walls and other buildings of the place ; so 

 that whatever had escaped the first irruption was now totally over- 

 whelmed by these terrible mountains of waves, and nothing remained 

 except a piece of the wall of the port of Santa Cruz as a memorial of 

 this terrible devastation. 



"There were then in the harbour twenty-three ships and other 

 vessels, great and small, of which nineteen were absolutely sunk; 

 while the other four, one of which was a frigate called St. Fermus, 

 were carried by the force of the waves to a great distance up the 

 country. This terrible inundation extended to other parts of the coast, 

 as Cavallos and Guanape. At Callao, where the number of inhabitants 

 amounted to about four thousand, two hundred only escaped; and 

 twenty-two of these by means of the above-mentioned fragment of a 

 wall." 



'Thus was Callao entirely swept away; and according to Captaia 



M 2 



