354 



THREE YEARS IN THE PACIFIC 



patriots who landed here in September 1821. A large store- 

 house and a few huts stand upon the shore, the town of Pisco 

 being about a mile from the sea, where it was built soon after 

 the earthquake of 1682. At that time, the sea retired for a 

 considerable distance, and again returning with immense vio- 

 lence, submerged the whole town ; and remained a quarter of 

 a league beyond its former limits. 



When we landed, we found the captain of the port ready to 

 receive us ; he plead indisposition for not having visited us, 

 and, to use a Spanish expression, he politely " franked us his 

 house," and offered us horses to ride to town ; but we prefer- 

 red walking, as the morning was pleasant, and the distance 

 short. On our way, we saw several ruins of ancient Pisco, 

 and in the neighborhood several huacas or mounds of the 

 aborigines. It is supposed that the race of Indians which in- 

 habited this section of the country previous to the conquest, 

 was very poor, as nothing has ever been found either in 

 their huacas or in their graves, though diligent examinations 

 have been made. 



The town of Pisco is small, and bears a sufficient resem- 

 blance to Lima to mark it as a dwarfish ofispring of the same 

 parent. As at Lima, buzzards and carrion birds are constantly 

 sailing about in the air above it. It contains a convent of the 

 order of San Francisco, which is now closed, from want of 

 funds to maintain its friars. The architecture of the churches 

 and dwellings is similar to that in most of the towns along the 

 coast of Peru. The Cathedral, or rather the Iglesia Matriz, 

 occupies all the eastern side of the plaza ; it has a tower at 

 each corner of its front, an oval roof, and a dome at the back. 



Being Sunday, the streets were gay ; and several well fur- 

 nished stores of the place were open. Many heaps of fruit, 

 shaded by mats supported on poles, lay in a line across the 

 plaza. Mules and asses were moving in every direction, 

 bearing riders in holy-day suits. The negress moved in her 

 calico gown and jaunty flounces, with a well glazed hat of 

 Manila straw, barefoot, though not without the ornament of a 

 flower. The negro sauntered about in his big bottomed bra- 

 gas the gay miss advanced towards the church with mea- 



