NOTICES OP PERU. 203 



CHAPTER IV. 



Topography and climate of Lima — ^Plan and divisions of the city — Walls — 

 Distribution of property — Population — Religious communities. 



Lima, or as it is now occasionally styled, in the grandilo- 

 quence inherited from the father land," " City of the Free," 

 is built on the southern bank of the river Rimac, which sepa- 

 rates it from the suburb of San Lazaro. It is sheltered to the 

 north and east by the hills of Amancaes and San Cristoval, 

 which may be considered as mountain spurs of the Andes, the 

 great chain of which runs, north and south, about twenty 

 leagues east of the city. When the sky is clear, their snowy 

 peaks are seen, not only from Lima, but from a long distance 

 at sea. San Cristoval rises 1170 feet, and Amancaes 2560 feet, 

 above the level of the Ocean.* 



The cross erected on the summit of San Cristoval, is to com- 

 memorate a signal victory, gained over the Indians by the 

 Spaniards, through the miraculous aid of that saint. About two 

 years after the founding of Lima, there was a general rise of 

 the Indians throughout Peru. Cuzco was besieged, and seven- 

 ty thousand Indians occupied the northern bank of the Rimac. 

 In order to be free from the action of the Spanish cavalry, the 

 great body of the Peruvian army was stationed on the hill in 

 question. Whenever they poured down the hill to the attack, 

 the river suddenly rose, and many were drowned ; but when the 

 Spaniards advanced, commending themselves, as they rushed 

 forward, to the care of San Cristoval and Santiago, the waters 

 remained shallow, to the great dismay of their enemies, " being 

 to them," says Garcilaso, " what the Red Sea was to the Phili- 

 stines."t 



• Unanu6. Observaciones sobre el clima de Lima^ Madrid. 1815. - 

 f Garcilaso. Comentarios Reales. Lib. 2. cap. 28. , - , 



