202 



SOUTH COAST OF PERU. 



voyages of Dampier and the old Buccaneers. We 

 landed at a little sandy beach, sheltered from the 

 swell of the sea by a reef of rocks^ on which the 

 surf broke with prodigious violence, and covered 

 half the bay with foam. We were greeted by two 

 men and a woman : the lady was evidently a na- 

 tive : her two companions also were deeply dyed 

 with aboriginal blood ; one was a young and ac- 

 tive man, the other an old ragged beggar-like per- 

 son. I asked the first to |X)int out the Alcalde''s 

 house. " This is the Alcalde himself,'" said he, 

 pointing to his aged companion ; and certainly of 

 all the constituted authorities whom we had to 

 deal with on the shores of the Pacific, the ' Al- 

 calde or Mayor' of Ylo was the least like what the 

 imagination conceives of a chief magistrate. But 

 things must be judged with reference to their mu- 

 tual fitness; and in this view, our shabby Al- 

 calde was appropriate to his office; for in his 

 town we encountered only three living things — a 

 half-dressed wild-looking Patriot soldier— an In- 

 dian from the mountains, asleep in the middle of 

 the street — and a lean, half- starved, solitary jack- 

 ass. Most of the houses were without doors, so 



