July, 1835. 



LIMA. 



449 



the clouds ; and in consequence of this, an abundant crypto- 

 gamic vegetation, and a few flowers, covered the summit. 

 On the hills near Lima, at an elevation but little greater, 

 the ground was carpeted with moss, and beds of beau- 

 tiful yellow lilies, called Amancaes. This indicates a very 

 much greater degree of humidity than at a corresponding 

 altitude at Iquique. Travelling northward, the climate be- 

 comes damper, till on the banks of the Guyaquil, nearly 

 under the equator, we find the most luxuriant forests. The 

 change, however, from the sterile coast of Peru to that fertile 

 land, is described as taking place rather abruptly, in the 

 latitude of Cape Blanco, two degrees south of Guyaquil. 



Callao is a filthy, ill-built, small seaport. The inhabitants, 

 both there and at Lima, present every imaginable shade of 

 mixture, between European, Negro, and Indian blood. They 

 appear a depraved, drunken set of people. The atmosphere 

 was loaded with foul smells, and that peculiar one, which 

 may be perceived in almost every town within the tropics, was 

 here very strong. The fortress, which withstood Lord Coch- 

 rane^s long siege, has an imposing appearance. But the Pre- 

 sident, during our stay, sold the brass guns, and proceeded 

 to dismantle parts of it. The reason assigned was, that he 

 had not an officer to whom he could trust so important a 

 charge. He himself had good reasons for knowing this, as 

 he had obtained the presidentship by rebelling while in 

 charge of this same fortress. After we left South America, 

 he paid the penalty in the usual way, by being conquered, 

 taken prisoner, and shot. 



Lima stands on a plain in a valley, formed during the 

 gradual retreat of the sea. It is distant seven miles from 

 Callao, and is elevated 500 feet above it ; but from the slope 

 being very gradual, the road appears absolutely level; so 

 that when at Lima it is difficult to believe one has ascended 

 some hundred feet. Humboldt has remarked on this singu- 

 larly deceptive case. Steep, barren hills rise like islands 

 from the plain, which is divided, by straight mud-walls, into 

 large green fields. In these scarcely a tree grows excepting a 



VOL. III. 2 G 



