452 



PERU. 



July, 1835 



plaited rush, and the head of a stalk of Indian corn. 

 This fact, coupled with another, which will be mentioned, 

 proves I think the amount of eighty-five feet elevation since 

 man inhabited this part of Peru. On the coast of Pata- 

 gonia and La Plata, where perhaps the movements have 

 been slower, there is evidence, as we have seen, that several 

 mammalia have become extinct during a smaller change of 

 level. At Valparaiso, where there exist abundant proofs of 

 recent elevation to a greater altitude than in this part of 

 Peru, I can show that the greatest possible change during 

 the last 220 years, has not exceeded the small measure of 

 fifteen feet. 



On the mainland in front of San Lorenzo, near Bellavista, 

 there is an extensive and level plain, at the height of about 

 a hundred feet. The section on the coast shows that the 

 lower part consists of alternating layers of sand and impure 

 clay, together with some gravel ; and the surface, to the depth 

 of from three to six feet, of a reddish loam, containing a few 

 scattered sea-shells, and numerous small fragments of coarse 

 red earthenware. At first I was inclined to believe that this 

 superficial bed must have been deposited beneath the sea ; but 

 I afterwards found in one spot, that it covered an artificial 

 floor of round stones. The conclusion which then seemed 

 most probable was, that at a period when the land stood at a 

 less height, there was a plain very similar to the one now 

 surrounding Callao, which being protected by a shingle beach, 

 is raised but very little above the level of the sea. On this 

 plain, with its clay beds, T imagine the Indians manufactured 

 their earthen vessels ; and that, during some violent earth- 

 quake, the sea broke over the beach and converted the plain 

 into a temporary lake, as happened in 1713* around Callao. 

 The water would then deposit mud, containing fragments of 

 pottery from the kilns, and shells from the sea. This bed 

 with fossil earthenware occurring at about the same altitude 

 with the terrace on San Lorenzo, confirms the supposed 

 amount of elevation within the human period. 



* Frezier's Voyage. 



