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.
[Illustration: WATER-CARRIER AND DONKEYS.]
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.
[Illustration: DESERT SCENE.]
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.
[Illustration: A WOLF EMIGRATING.]
"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."
[Illustration: SHIPS IN A FOG.]
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.
[Illustration: A GARDEN ON THE RIMAC.]
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.
[Illustration; A CLAIMANT FOR THE SIDEWALK.]
The baggage was intrusted to an employé 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.
[Illustration: VIEW OF LIMA FROM THE STEPS OF THE CATHEDRAL.]
"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.
[Illustration: LIMA AND THE SURROUNDING COUNTRY.]
"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.
[Illustration: WEARING THE "SAYA Y MANTO."]
"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_.
[Illustration: A LADY OF LIMA.]
"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.
[Illustration: INTERIOR COURT, LIMA.]
"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.
[Illustration: BRIDGE OVER THE RIMAC, LIMA.]
"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° to 88°, 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.
[Illustration: ONE USE FOR CHICKENS.]
"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° 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.
[Illustration: LADIES OF LIMA AT HOME.]
"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.
[Illustration: PERUVIAN INFANTRY AND CAVALRY.]
"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."
[Illustration: A PASSAGE OF POLITENESS.]