NOTICES OF PERU. 183 



I 



^ne of five hundred dollars was imposed on any person who 

 should be detected in carrying a sealed letter to Lima. Letters 

 for the consignees of merchant vessels are excepted. 



Besides the entrance by the northern end of the island, there 

 is another, called the Boquer&n passage, between the main and 

 the southern portion, called Fronton. 



To the north-east of the anchorage, the river Rimac, which 

 passes the City of Lima, insensibly debouches, and leaves 

 many lagoons in that direction. Two miles to the north, there 

 is a shoal near the shore, and a stream of water falling into the 

 sea, called Bocanegra. 



About three leagues to the south of Callao, is a promontory 

 called the Morro Solar. On its northern side is the village of 

 Chorillos, inhabited by Indians ; which, during the summer, 

 is the resort of the fashion of Lima, for the purpose of sea 

 bathing. To the south of it are two landing places ; one. El 

 Salto del Fraile — the Friar's Leap, and the other, China, 

 which was much frequented, in the early part of the last cen- 

 tury, by French merchantmen and smugglers. 



Previous to the great earthquake of 1746, (28th October,) 

 which ruined Lima and submerged Callao, this place was de- 

 fended by a simple wall, and irregular bastions ; but, from the 

 loose nature of the soil, without a fosse. The guns were of brass, 

 but so entirely worn, that a great part of the charge of powder 

 burnt out at the touch hole. The gun carriages were quite as 

 defective as the artillery ; some had but one wheel, and others 

 were worn almost square. What is remarkable, there was no 

 one in Lima who was professionally capable of repairing these 

 guns, which were at last bushed by a silversmith named 

 Francisco de Villachica, who had never been out of Lima, but, 

 from the urgency of the case, undertook the work. At that 

 time, the shot used were either of pure copper or mixed with 

 lead, and we are told that the officers sold large quantities of 

 them for their private advantage.* 



The site of Callao of the present day, is some hundred toises 

 to the north of the old, and possesses a very different soil. The 



* Noticias Secretas de America, p. 138. 



