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Show 448 PERU . July, 1835. the oth er 11 an d, I h av e heard of one remarkable case where a fever b ro k e out am Ong the crew of a man-of-war so.m e hund re d mi'1 es of f the coast of Africa ' at the very same time that one of tho se fearful periods of death commenced . at Si. erra L eone. It may be remarked' that of the .m ost destructi. ve d1. seases, wh I' Ch bear an evident relat. ion to ch. mate, and whiCh ( · f b the addition of some direct pmson) affect both as·i Y d t ers nearly all on·o·-m ate ·m tl1 e hot t er natives an s rang , o . regw· ns of th e earth · As geological inductiOn shows that the 1. t durino- the periods antecedent to the present, had c Ima e, o .1 . h ld an extra-tropical character, so, in all probabi 1ty, t ere wou be an extra tendency to disease, and we can therefore see that the introduction of man being, as generally supposed, recent, is an adaptation to the existing condition of the world. · f · d N 0 state in South America, since the declaratiOn o m e-pendence, has suffered more from anarch.y th~n Peru. ~t the time of our visit there were four chwfs m arms contending for supremacy in the government : if one succeeded · becomino- for a time very powerful, the others coalesced Ill o · · h against him ; but no sooner were th~y vwtonous, t an they were again disunited, and hostile to each other. The other day, at the Anniversary of the Ind~pendence, high mass was performed, the Presi~ent partakmg of the sacrament: during the Te Deum laudamus, instead of e~ch regiment displaying the Peruvian ~ag, a black one With death's head was unfurled. Imagme a government under which such a scene could be ordered, on such an occasion, to be typical of their determination of fi?hting to the death ! This state of affairs happened at a time very unfortunately for me, as I was precluded from taking any excursions much beyond the limits of the towns. The barren island of S. Lorenzo, which forms the harbour, was nearly the only place where one could walk securel!. T~e upper part, which is about 1200 feet in height, dun~g .this season of the year, (winter) comes within the lower lmnt of July, 1835. LIMA. 449 the clouds ; and in consequence of this, an abundant cryptogamic vegetation, and a few flowers, covered the su~mit. On the hills near Lima, at an elevation but little greater, the ground was carpeted with moss, and beds of beautiful yellow lilies, called Am~n?aes. This indicates a very m~ch greater ~egree ~f hu~1d1ty than at a corresponding altitude at lqmque. 'I ravellmg northward, the climate becomes damper, till on the banks of the Guyaquil, nearly under the equator, we find the most luxuriant forests. The change, however, from the sterile coast of Peru to that fertile land, is described as taking place rather abruptly, in the latitude of Cape Blanco, two degrees south of Guyaquil. Callao is a filthy, ill-built, small seaport. The inhabitants both there and at Lima, present every imaginable shade of mixture, between European, Negro, and Indian blood. They appear a depr~ved, drunken set of people. The atmosphere was loaded wtth foul smells, and that peculiar one, which may be perceived in almost every town within the tropics, was here very strong. 'l,he fortress, which withstood Lord Cochrane's long siege, has an imposing appearance. But the President, during our stay, sold the brass guns, and proceeded to dismantle parts of it. The reason assigned was, that he had not an officer to whom he could trust so important a charge. He himself had good reasons for knowing this, as he had obtained the presidentship by rebelling while in charge of this same fortress. After we left South America he paid the penalty in the usual way, uy being conquered' taken prisoner, and shot. ' Lima stands on a plain in a valley, formed during the gradual retreat of the sea. It is distant seven miles from C~llao, and is elevated 500 feet above it; but from the slope bemg very gradual, the road appears absolutely level; so that when at Lima it is difficult to believe one has ascended some hundred feet. Humboldt has remarked on this singularly deceptive case. Steep, barren hills rise like islands from the plain, which is divided, by straight mud-walls, into large green fields. In these scarcely a tree grows excepting a VOL. III. 2 G |