118 



porter's journal. 



The town of Callao is the seaport of Lima, from which 

 the latter is distant about three leagues. Callao is an open 

 road-stead ; but as the wind here always blows from the 

 southward, and never with violence, and as it is well shel- 

 tered from this quarter by the projecting capes, and by the 

 island of St. Lorenzo, it is considered in this sea as one of 

 the safest harbours for vessels. In this place all the trade 

 of Peru centres ; it is apparently well fortified by batteries 

 on shore, and is said to be well protected, in addition to 

 those, by a formidable flotilla of gunboats. The calms 

 which appear to prevail in the bay seem to render this 

 mode of defence very proper; and if this is the case, it must 

 be very dangerous for hostile vessels to venture beyond the 

 island of St. Lorenzo. OtF the point of St. Lorenzo is a 

 very suitable station for a vessel blockading Callao, as she 

 can there, in consequence of the calms,* prevent every ves- 

 sel from going in, as she can run in and have the breeze at 

 the distance of half gun-shot of them, after they have dou- 

 bled the point, and while they are perfectly becalmed ; in 

 this situation, exposed to her guns, the boats can take pos- 

 session and tow them out. 



While we lay to here, I observed the sea filled with small 

 red specks, and supposed at first that some hog had been 

 killed on board, and that part of the blood was floating 

 along side ; but on a close examination I perceived them 

 to have at times a very quick motion, and on directing 

 some of them to be caught in a bucket, discovered them to 

 be young craw-fish, of different sizes, but generally from 

 one inch in len/^t^ to one tenth that size. The ocean ap- 

 peared filled with them ; and from the immense number of 

 birds that kept about this spot, I am induced to believe 

 that no small number of them were daily devoured. They 

 did not appear to be governed by any general laws, each 

 one pursuing his own course, and shifting for himself; no 

 two appearing in the same direction ; and it is probable 

 that, as soon as they left the egg, each one began to seek 

 his ovfn subsistence. Two of them were put into a bottle 

 of sea-water, and on some crumbs of bread being thrown 

 in, they seized and devoured them very ravenously. 



About this time I concluded to change the water in 

 which the fish had been put, that was pumped out of the 

 cask off Cape Horn, To this period it had been very live^ 



