CHAPTER VIII.

FROM GUAYAQUIL TO CALLAO.--LANDING AT PAITA.--THE SITE OF OLD CALLAO.--ARRIVAL AT LIMA.--SIGHTS OF THE PERUVIAN CAPITAL.--GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY AND ITS INHABITANTS.

Paita, in Peru, was the first stopping-place of the steamer, but the delay was only for a few hours, and our friends had no opportunity for a lengthened visit to the shore. But they voted unanimously that they had seen all that was worth seeing, as the place contained very few attractions.

Paita is on a bay affording good anchorage for ships; it is the seaport of the city of Piura, which lies at the foot of the mountains, on the other side of the desert of Sechura. There is no sign of vegetation in and around Paita, and the water which supplies the wants of the residents is brought from a point thirty miles inland. Formerly it was transported on the backs of donkeys, but recently a pipe has been laid for the entire distance, and the inhabitants are no longer dependent upon the vagaries of the long-eared animal for their aqueous supply.

As soon as the steamer dropped her anchor the Doctor and the youths went on shore. They landed at an iron pier in front of a beach of gray sand, where there was a single street of houses, mostly very frail in construction. Some of the shops and dwellings were solidly built, but the majority were of a sort of basket-work covered with plastered mud, presenting many impromptu loop-holes through which the occupants could gaze on the outer world. Back of the town is a cliff of volcanic stone, rising rather steeply; Frank and Fred climbed to the top of the cliff, while the Doctor remained in conversation with one of the English residents. The youths could hardly say if they had been repaid for their exertions, as they saw only the distant range of mountains beyond the desert, which was said to be about fifty miles across. The desert was of the same color as the beach and the cliffs behind it, and the landscape of Paita may be set down as monotonous.

"Whether you are repaid or not," said the Doctor, when they returned, "may be an open question, but you have had a view of Peru, and certainly that is worth something."

"I hope the rest of Peru is different from what we have just seen," replied Frank, with a laugh.

"You have had a fair sample of it here," answered the Doctor. "From this point to the southern boundary of Peru there is little else than a strip of desert between the Andes and the sea. In some parts of it rain never falls, and the whole expanse is barren of vegetation. Here and there rivers come down to the ocean, but none of them are large, and the majority are dry for the greater part of the year. The Guayas, which we ascended from Guayaquil to Bodegas, is the largest river on the whole Pacific coast of South America."

"I understand," said Fred, "that the strip between the mountains and the ocean on the western side of South America is very narrow, and therefore the rivers cannot be large; but how does it happen that there is so little rain, and, in some places, none at all?"

"I will endeavor to explain it," replied Dr. Bronson, "and in doing so will call your attention to the fertile regions of the Amazon, Orinoco, and La Plata, on the eastern side of the Andes, in contrast with the arid desert on the west. The tropical winds from the Atlantic Ocean are laden with moisture; they blow with great regularity from east to west, and thus sweep over the country drained by the rivers I have mentioned. Rain is frequent and copious all through that region; it varies with the seasons of the year, but is always sufficient to keep the channels of the streams well filled.

"The rains continue up to the foot of the Andes and along their eastern slopes. The mountains condense the moisture from the warm winds, and up to the very crest of the dividing ridge there is an abundance of rain. But by the time the winds have crossed the Andes all the water they carried has been wrung from them, and when they reach the Pacific slope they have no more to give out. Thus it happens that the eastern slopes of the Andes and the great plains intervening to the Atlantic have an abundance of water, while there is little or none at all for the west.

"There is a part of Peru and Bolivia where rain never falls," continued the Doctor. "It is known as the '_Despoblado_' or 'The Uninhabited,' in consequence of the severity of its climate, and the great difficulty of existing there. In the language of a once-famous statesman of America, it is 'so poor that a wolf couldn't make a decent living there.'"

"Does this condition of dryness extend all along the western coast to the end of the continent?" one of the youths inquired.

"No," was the reply. "As we go south through Chili we encounter more moisture in the climate, and on reaching Patagonia we find the western slopes of the Andes drenched by frequent rains, and the tops of the mountains almost constantly covered with clouds. This condition is due to the trade-winds, which blow from the south Pacific Ocean to the land; the plains east of the Andes in Patagonia are comparatively dry, and swept by cold winds from the snow-tipped summits of the mountains. Remember, we are south of the equator, and the farther south we go the more cold do we find."

In conversations like this, and in the examination of books relating to Peru and other parts of South America, the time passed during the voyage from Paita to Callao. Frank was busy with Prescott's "Conquest of Peru," while Fred carefully conned the pages of "Peru, or Travel and Exploration in the Land of the Incas," by Hon. E. G. Squier. Frank declared that the work of Prescott "read like a romance," while Fred was equally enthusiastic over the book which claimed his attention. It is quite likely that they will rely upon these volumes for much of their information concerning the antiquities of Peru, and the story of its occupation by the Spanish conquerors.

The steamer kept far out to sea, and very little of the coast between Paita and Callao was visible. Finally, on a misty morning, her head was turned towards the land; passing a high, rocky island on the right, and leaving a low shore on the left, she entered the harbor of Callao, and dropped anchor among a miscellaneous assemblage of steamers and sailing-ships, bearing the flags of at least a dozen foreign nations, together with a liberal array of Peruvian and Chilian craft. The Doctor explained that there is generally a mist hanging over the harbor of Callao in the morning, owing to the condensation of the tropical moisture by the cold current of air sweeping northward from the Antarctic regions. The ships at anchor were revealed through this mist, and so were the towers of the castle that commands the harbor and the town at its base. Beyond the shore was a line of hills backed against the snowy mountains in the distance. The shore formed a pleasing contrast to the one they left at Paita, as it was covered with trees, and indicated a break in the desert that the Doctor had described.

The steamer was immediately surrounded by boats, and the boatmen hailed the passengers in a perfect polyglot of languages; they endeavored to make bargains previous to the arrival of the captain of the port, without whose authority the ship could not hold communication with the shore. That official took his time, and made everybody impatient; he was visiting a steamer that had just arrived from the south, and was not disposed to hurry.

Frank and Fred relieved the monotony of waiting by studying the outlines of the shore, taking note of the heterogeneous array of boatmen, listening to their appeals for patronage, and attempting a sketch of the fort which defended the city and harbor. But their artistic efforts were so frequently interrupted that the sketches were unsatisfactory, and we are not permitted to reproduce them.

"The harbor of Callao is nothing to boast of," said the Doctor, "but it is better than most others on the Pacific coast. The prevailing winds are from the south and southwest, and protection is afforded from those winds by the island of San Lorenzo and the tongue of land where Old Callao stood."

"Why was the city moved from its former position?" Fred asked. "What was the difference between Old Callao and the present one?"

"It was an earthquake that moved it," replied Dr. Bronson. "Callao was submerged, with all its inhabitants, in 1746, and when the water is calm you can row over it in a boat, and see the ruins down below you. At half-past ten o'clock one night the sea receded to a great distance, and then rolled back with such violence as to sweep the town and its fortifications out of existence. Five thousand persons perished; nineteen ships were foundered, and four others, including a Spanish man-of-war, were carried far up on the land. Modern Callao had a narrow escape from a similar fate in 1825 and again in 1868, and at any moment it is liable to be engulfed like its predecessor."

The captain of the port came, and then the passengers were at liberty to land. The landing-place is at the side of a mole which protects the harbor on its northern side from the swell of the Pacific. Frank and Fred were surprised to see large piles of grain in the open air, together with other merchandise, but their wonder ceased when they were told that it never rains at Callao, the only moisture being from the mists and fogs already mentioned. The absence of rain renders the place unhealthy, as the drainage is not good, and the heat is great. Frank thought Callao was an excellent rival to Cologne in the way of bad odors, and both the youths were disinclined to make a prolonged stay.

The party went immediately to the railway station, followed by porters with their baggage, and in less than half an hour were on their way to Lima, six miles distant. There is nothing worth seeing in Callao, which has a population of some twenty-five or thirty thousand, and is important only from a commercial point of view. The railway skirts the shore for a short distance, then passes through a suburb of the town, and ascends an acclivity of about five hundred feet, which lies between the ocean and the capital city. For nearly the whole distance it is close to the _Camino Real_ or Royal Road, the old route established by the Spaniards to connect Lima with its seaport. The train toiled slowly up the incline, and accomplished the journey in little less than half an hour. This travelling would be considered slow in other countries, but it is satisfactory to the inhabitants, as nobody in Lima ever thinks of hurrying.

Much of the country between Callao and Lima is under cultivation, by means of irrigating canals brought from the Rimac River. The Rimac dwindles to a small brook in the dry season, but in the period of rains it swells into quite a river, and furnishes more water than is needed. In the absence of rain it is the sole reliance for the gardens and fields around Lima; it is as necessary to this region as is the Nile to Lower Egypt. Without the Rimac, Lima would dry up and disappear; with it the city stands in a surrounding of luxuriant gardens and smiling fields.

The baggage was intrusted to an employe of the hotel, who had been telegraphed for, and met our friends at the station; guided by a servant from the same establishment, they walked the short distance intervening between the station and their lodging-place, narrowly escaping collisions with troops of laden donkeys, that rushed along the streets as though they possessed the sole right of occupation. They seemed to prefer the sidewalks to the middle of the street, probably because the latter was less smooth than the sidewalks, and their drivers didn't care where they went as long as they kept moving in the right direction. Few carriages were visible, and these few were not attractive in appearance.

For a description of Lima we will quote from Frank's letter to his mother, which was sent by the next steamer northward from Callao:

"Here we are, in the 'City of the Kings,' as it was named by Pizarro. According to the histories, it was on the 6th of January, 1535, Old Style, that the Spanish conqueror designated it as the capital of his dominions. That day happened to be the festival of the Magi, or Three Wise Men of the East, who came to Bethlehem to adore the Saviour; in old chronicles they are styled 'The Three Kings,' and hence Pizarro called his capital _Ciudad de los Reyes_, or 'City of the Kings.' Charles V. designated the arms of the city to be three golden crowns on a blue field, with a rayed star to indicate the Star of Bethlehem, which guided the kings. The name Lima is a modification or adaptation of the native word _Rimac_, which formerly belonged to the plain or valley where the city is built, and is still borne by the river which supplies it with water.

"In many respects Lima is one of the most interesting cities of South America; certainly we have found it full of attractions, and have not had an idle minute since our arrival. We have been trying to imagine what it must have been when surrounded by the walls which the Spaniards built at great expense. These walls have proved useless in modern times; they have been completely destroyed, and the space they occupied is converted into promenades, or laid out in gardens or building-lots. The walls enclosed an area about three miles long by one and a half broad, on the left bank of the Rimac; they were twenty feet thick, and somewhat more in height, and were made of _adobes_, the favorite building-material of this part of the world. The city is about ten miles in circumference, but a large part of its area is laid out in gardens and public squares, so that the whole is by no means occupied.

"I send you a map of Lima and the surrounding country, which will give you an excellent idea of its position. Unhappily for Peru, much of the beautiful region around its capital was laid waste by the invading army during the late war between Chili and Peru; Chili was completely victorious, and also unmerciful, and in the battle which decided the fate of Lima many of the country-houses and villages in the neighborhood were burned. This was the sad lot of Chorillos, the Long Branch or Coney Island of Lima, and also of Miraflores, which lies between Chorillos and the great city.

"There is a railway from Chorillos to Lima, passing through Miraflores; the invading army landed at Chorillos, and marched along the line of railway to Lima. They destroyed nearly everything on the route, and were only prevented from burning and plundering the city by the energy of the British minister and other members of the diplomatic corps, backed by the English and French admirals, with their ships of war in the harbor of Callao.

"So much for the horrors of war, which this country will long remember. The population of Lima is variously placed at from one hundred thousand to one hundred and twenty thousand; there are about fifteen thousand foreigners and six thousand priests among them, so that you cannot go far on the streets without meeting either a foreigner or a priest. In all the cities we have ever seen there does not appear to be a more mixed lot of inhabitants than here; Constantinople and Cairo are not more kaleidoscopic than Lima, and I think the American city is somewhat ahead of them.

"There are English, French, German, Spanish, Belgian, and North American residents here; there are Chinese and Negroes, white, black, yellow, and all other complexions among the natives of the country, besides, as Fred says, 'several wards to hear from.' Professor Orton says there are at least twenty-five varieties of people in Lima; the upper classes are educated and polite, while the lowest of the population are among the most dangerous in the world. During the night before the occupation of Lima by the Chilian army the dangerous class had possession of the city for some hours, and committed many depredations. The foreigners organized a temporary police, and stopped the disorder; if they had not done so the whole city would have been plundered.

"We used to read in our school-books that the ladies of Lima covered their faces with the _saya y manto_, or veil, when out walking, so that only one eye could be seen. We saw a few veils worn in this way, and the Doctor said the wearers were probably old, and not pretty; the most of the ladies have dropped the old fashion, and permit their faces to be seen, using the veil only as a covering for the top of the head. I enclose a photograph of a lady of Lima to-day, and a sketch which shows the old style of wearing the _saya y manto_.

"We spent the first evening of our visit in strolling through the Plaza Mayor, or Great Square, which covers nine acres of ground, and listening to a band of music which played several national and other airs. There is a bronze fountain in the centre of the square, and a garden around the fountain where tropical plants and trees seemed to flourish. The cathedral is on one side of the square; it is a fine building, and its corner-stone was laid by Pizarro twelve days after the city was founded. Our guide took us from the cathedral to an alley leading from the south side of the square, and pointed out the house where the great conqueror was assassinated. 'But he killed three of his assailants before they could overpower him,' said the guide, proudly, as if in reverence of the memory of Pizarro. We thought he might claim to be a descendant of one of the Spanish conquerors, and make his noble blood an excuse for demanding increased pay for his services, but he did not.

"The government palace fronts on the plaza, and the rest of the space surrounding the square is occupied by shops, principally filled with European goods; American products may be seen here, but not as often as we wished to find them. In two of the shops we observed that the weighing was done on Fairbanks' Scales, and our guide said the same apparatus could be found all through Lima, and elsewhere in Peru. Of the agricultural machinery used in Peru the greater part is said to be of American manufacture.

"One of the sights of Lima is the stone bridge over the Rimac; it was built by the old Spaniards, and has stood bravely against all the earthquakes that have shaken the city for the last three centuries. The bridge is five hundred and thirty feet long, and rests on stone arches; at the entrance there is a splendid arch bearing the inscription 'Dios y La Patria' ('God and Country'). We walked over the bridge, and from its parapet looked upon the river, which was not over two feet deep in its principal channel, while a large part of its bed was bare. The Rimac resembles the Manzanares at Madrid, and some of the foreign residents say the bottom has to be sprinkled at times to keep it from flying away. When the rain falls in the mountains the Rimac swells to a considerable stream, and rushes along with great violence.

"Speaking of the stone bridge reminds me that the founders of the city used stone for the construction of the public buildings, and their example has been followed to some extent in modern times. But the common buildings are of _adobe_, which does very well in a climate where there is so little rain, and lasts a long time. The roofs are nearly all flat; it never snows here, and it never rains more than a few drops at a time. Consequently the chief use of a roof is to exclude the sun. The temperature ranges from 60 deg. to 88 deg., stoves and other heating apparatus are unknown, and the only fires are for cooking purposes. From November to March the weather is dry and delightful, but from March to November it is damp and unhealthy, owing to the continuous fogs that roll in from the ocean.

"But in spite of its even climate the deaths exceed the births in Lima, and if the city were not constantly recruited from other parts of the country and the world it would be depopulated. I am told that the mortality among infants is three times as great as in London or New York. It is attributed to the dampness of the climate for a part of the year, and the bad drainage consequent upon the absence of rain. Regions where rain never falls may be pleasant for those who do not like umbrellas and rubber clothing, but there are disadvantages which more than outweigh the comforts.

"The buildings cover a large area, and are nearly always constructed with central court-yards. They are rarely of more than two stories, and the roofs would be of little use in Boston or New York. The roofs are generally of a single thickness of boards, or of poles covered with matting, supporting a layer of sand or ashes, to absorb the moisture of the fogs. A summer shower such as we are familiar with on the banks of the Hudson or Connecticut would soak the whole of Lima so that hardly a house would be inhabitable.

"We were roused early in the morning by the crowing of chickens above our heads, and on looking around to find the cause of the disturbance we found that the roofs of the houses in Lima are the favorite places for keeping poultry. The flat surface and the absence of rain adapt the roof to this purpose, and the people are evidently too lazy to maintain their fowls elsewhere. You would think chickens might be cheap, when there are such facilities for rearing them; but they are not, and the same is the case with beef, mutton, and other animal food. A good many of the chickens are kept for fighting purposes, and not to be eaten; cock-fights are a common amusement among the people, and a great deal of money changes hands at one of these performances.

"We had a pleasant walk through the central market, which is in a large building covering an entire square; or, rather, built around the square with a court in the centre.

"On the sides of the square there are stalls for the larger dealers; the galleries and the open space in the centre are occupied by women who sit beside the articles they have to sell, and keep up a perpetual conversation with each other, like market-women all over the world. Lying only 12 deg. south of the equator, Lima has a tropical climate; with the outlying range of the Andes sixty miles away, she is within a short railway ride of a temperate region. The result is that you can find in the market the vegetable products of two zones; those of the torrid, from the neighborhood of Lima, and those of the temperate, from the mountains.

"Here are tomatoes, green corn, cucumbers, radishes, parsnips, and other growths of New England or New York, side by side with oranges, peaches, chirimoyas, grapes, mangoes, and other tropical things whose names are not familiar to you. Flowers are in great abundance, and roses are everywhere grown in the gardens. You see them in great variety and profusion, and it is claimed for Lima that she can show more kinds of roses than any other city in the world. There are vases of growing flowers in nearly all the court-yards and on the balconies, and the women of all classes use the flowers for decorating their hair. At one time there was almost a craze for the cultivation of roses, and many a man spent a large part of his income in the experiment.

"We cannot say much for the cookery of Lima, if we are to judge by what we have seen. The hotel is managed by a Frenchman; his table is mainly French, but he has adopted some of the native dishes and customs. One article that may be called the national dish of Peru is a part of his bill of fare, and known as _puchero_. I have obtained the recipe for it, and here it is:

"'Have a kettle according to the size of your puchero; put in this kettle a large piece of beef or mutton, some cabbage, sweet potatoes, salt pork, sausage-meat, pigs' feet, _yucas_, bananas, quinces, pease, and rice, with spices, salt, and plenty of red pepper for seasoning. Add sufficient water, and stew the whole gently for five or six hours; then serve in a tureen or deep dish.'

"Puchero is patterned somewhat after the _olla podrida_ of Spain, the chowder of New England, and the _bouillabiasse_ of southern France, but it has more ingredients and more flavors than all of them; I cannot say I dislike it, but could get along better if they would make it with less red pepper. They seem to think that the more pepper they put in the better; our taste has become hardened to hot things in our experience with Oriental curries and African stews, but it is not yet quite up to the mark with these Spanish American preparations.

"Another stew, simpler than puchero, is called _chupe_; it is a favorite dish for breakfast, but not often served at dinner. The lower classes are fond of _picantes_, compounded of meat, fish, crabs, meal, potatoes, bananas, and red peppers, mixed with the juice of bitter oranges, and stewed with water. We have tasted of this wonderful mixture, but could not get to the second spoonful in consequence of the fiery nature of the peppers. Fred says they use a pound of peppers to a pound of all the other ingredients, water included, and I can believe it. Swallowing a torchlight procession would be preferable to a dinner of picantes. Around the landing-place at Callao we saw women, with little braziers of charcoal, ladling out the steaming picantes to the idlers and laborers of the port, and we are told it is their only article of food. In the poorer parts of Lima there is a _picanteria_ every few yards, and each establishment has its patrons among the porters, water-carriers, and negro laborers of the neighborhood. The many varieties of picantes have distinct names, but all are flavored with red pepper in abundance.

"There was formerly a custom in Peru, on occasions of formality, for the host and hostess to eat by themselves, beforehand, and take nothing during the progress of the ceremonious meal. They sat at opposite ends of the table, and were supposed to be attending to the wants of their guests. The same custom prevails in some parts of Russia, but is passing away there as it is here.

"Another bit of table etiquette formerly prevailing in Peru, and not yet entirely unknown, was to select some delicate morsel from the dish before you, and hand it on your fork to a lady of the party. She would return the compliment, and sometimes it was made rather surprising to the stranger when she took the morsel in her fingers, and placed it in the mouth of the one who had paid her the compliment. I am told that this latter part of the ceremonial, based on the correctness of the adage that fingers were made before forks, was confined to the interior provinces, and was not fashionable in Lima."