NOTICES OP PERU. 



189 



fond. At that time terttilias are formed, generally ending in 

 gambling parties, in which ladies and gentlemen promiscuously 

 engage. Foreigners amuse themselves in walking, playing bil- 

 liards, or bowles, for which there are several alleys. 



The site of old Callao, which is between Castle Independence 

 and the south battery, is, like Golgotha, a place of skulls and 

 human bones. The vaulted roofs of some of the churches still 

 remain, and are on a level with the surface. Into these all the 

 bodies of those who died during the siege and blockade of 1825, 

 were thrown, without changing the dress in which they expired 

 or were killed. Many of the bodies are shrivelled and dried, 

 but show no sign of putrefaction having taken place. Here 

 were buried the family of Torre Tagle, Marquis of Truxillo, 

 who perished in the castle, with many others, from famine. 

 Provisions became so scarce towards the close of the siege, 

 that the marquis, it is said, gave a jewel, worth ^30,000, for 

 a single chicken ! The bones now seen, are of those who pe- 

 rished at that time, and were not washed out by the sea, as has 

 been suggested, for it rarely reaches where they are.* 



About the year 1650, Callao contained six hundred Spanish 

 families, besides Indians, Mestizos, Mulattoes and Negroes; 

 also four convents, viz., Santo Domingo, San Francisco, San 

 Augustin, La Merced, and a house of Jesuits.t 



* MorrePs Voyages. 



f Albores del Sol del Nuevo Mundo. 



