124 



PERU. 



acquaintances came forward to renew the subject 

 of their Valparaiso friends. In this way the con- 

 versation went on for about ten minutes, after 

 which I turned my horse towards Lima. The 

 crowd opened a passage for me ; and I was never 

 afterwards molested or threatened in the slightest 

 degree, though I passed through Callao several 

 times every day during the next week, at a time 

 when the hatred and suspicion of the English 

 were at their greatest height. 



The delay of a Spanish pleyto, or cause, is, 

 above all others, proverbial ; and, therefore, it 

 was not matter of surprise, however it might be 

 of vexation, that the release of my officers was 

 not obtained at once. An official letter was writ- 

 ten to Government to require their restitution, as 

 they had been identified by me, and I pledged 

 myself, of course, to the truth of this statement. 

 The difficulty was to determine the value of my 

 word, as opposed to the oath of no less than five 

 men at Callao, who had sworn, it seems, most po- 

 sitively, that they had recently seen these very 

 officers doing duty on board Lord Cochrane's 

 ships ; whereas, in point of fact, neither of them 



