72 



PERU. 



Canterac's army, on the other hand, consisted en- 

 tirely of veterans, long exercised in the wars of 

 Upper Peru. San Martin, therefore, thought it 

 better to make sure of the castle, than to risk the 

 whole cause upon the doubtful and irremediable 

 issue of one engagement. With Callao in their 

 possession, and the sea open, the Patriots could 

 never be driven out of Peru. But the slightest 

 military reverse at that moment must at once 

 have turned the tide ; the Spaniards would have 

 retaken Lima ; and the independence of the coun- 

 try might have been indefinitely retarded. 



13th of Dec. — I went this morning to the palace 

 to breakfast with the Protector, and to see a curi- 

 ous mummy, or preserved figure, which had been 

 brought the day before from a Peruvian village 

 to the northward of Lima. The figure was that 

 of a man seated on the ground, with the knees 

 almost touching his chin, the elbows pressed to 

 the sides, and the hands clasping his cheek-bones. 

 The mouth was half open, exposing a double row 

 of fine teeth. The body, though shrivelled up 

 in a remarkable manner, had all the appearance 

 of a man, the skin being entire except on one 



