The Narrative of Twenty Years' Residence in South America. William Bennet Stevenson

are formed for carriages to turn in with greater ease than on the road. On each side of the foot-walk runs a small stream of water, irrigating the willows in its course, and nourishing numberless luxuriant weeds and flowers. It was the intention of the Viceroy to carry the road down to Callao in the same style as it now exists near the city, but only the carriage road was finished. It has a parapet of brick raised two feet high on each side, to keep together the materials of the road. On the right hand side, going from the port, may be seen the ruins of an indian village, which was built before the discovery of South America. Some of the old walls are left, formed of clay, about two feet thick and six feet high, and which perhaps owe their present existence to the total absence of rain in this country. To the right is the town of Bellavista, to which parish Callao is attached, being called its anexo. Here is a hospital for seamen and the poorer class of the inhabitants. Half way between the port and the city stands a very neatly built chapel, to which is connected a small cloister; it is dedicated to the Virgin of Mount Carmel, and many visit it to fulfil some vow or other which they have made at sea to this Madonna, she being the protectress of seamen. Near the chapel is situated a house at which are sold good brandy and wine, and it may easily be guessed which establishment has the most customers! On approaching the city the quality of the soil appears to be very good; large gardens with luxuriant vegetables for the market, and fields of lucern and maize are here cultivated, and close to the city walls there are extensive orchards of tropical fruit trees, all irrigated with water drawn by canals from the river Rimac. The gateway is of brick, covered with stucco, with cornices, mouldings, and pillars of stone: it has three arches; the centre one for carriages has folding doors, the two lateral posterns are for foot passengers.

      The mind of a traveller is naturally led to expect to find the inside of a city correspondent with the appearance of its entrance; but at Lima he will be deceived. The distant views of the steeples and domes, the beautiful straight road, its shady avenue of lofty willows, and its handsome gateway, are contrasted, immediately on passing them, with a long street of low houses with their porches and patios; small shops with their goods placed on tables at the doors; no glass windows; no display of articles of commerce; numbers of people of all colours, from the black African to the white and rosy coloured Biscayan, with all their intermediate shades, combined with the mixture of colour and features of the aborigines of America:—the mere observation of this variety of colours and features produces a "confusion beyond all confusions."

      As a prisoner of war, although the two nations were at peace, I was conducted by my kind friend to the city gaol, carcel de la ciudad, where I remained shut up for eight months with about a hundred criminals of the worst description. Owing, however, to a recommendation and the promise of a remuneration from my good friend the lieutenant, the alcalde lodged me in a room at the entrance of the prison, allotted to persons of decent families, or to such as had the means of paying for this convenience.

      I was fortunate enough to find here a native of Lima, an officer in the army, who was confined on suspicion of forgery. He was a very excellent man, and conducted himself towards me in a manner which contributed, not only to my comfort whilst I was a prisoner, but finally to my liberation. My first object in my confinement was to make myself perfectly master of the Spanish tongue, and to obtain some knowledge of Quichua, the court language of the Incas, and used wherever their authority had been established. I was the more desirous of becoming acquainted with this language, because it is spoken in the interior of Peru by all classes of people: the respectable inhabitants, however, also speak Spanish.

      CHAPTER VIII.

       Table of Contents

      Lima, Origin of its Name. … Pachacamac. … Foundation of Lima. … Pizarro's Palace. … Situation of the City. … Form of the Valley Rimac. … River. … Climate. … Temperature. … Moists and Rain. … Soil. … Earthquakes. … Produce.

      Lima is the capital of Peru, and derives its name from Rimac, which original name its river still retains; but the valley was called by the indians Rimac Malca, or the place of witches; it being the custom among the aborigines, even before the establishment of the theocrasia of the Incas, as well as during their domination, to banish to this valley those persons who were accused of witchcraft. Its climate is very different from that of the interior, and having a great deal of marshy ground in its vicinity, intermittent fevers generally destroyed in a short time such individuals as were the objects of this superstitious persecution. It is recorded, that when Manco Capac and his sister Mama Ocollo were presented by their grandfather to the indians living at Couzcou, and were informed by him that they were the children of the sun, their God, the fair complexion of these strangers, and their light coloured hair, induced the indians to consider them as rimacs, and they were in consequence exiled to Rimac Malca, the place of witches, now the valley of Lima.

      In September, 1533, Don Francisco Pizarro arrived at Pachacamac, a large town belonging to the indians, where a magnificent temple had been built by Pachacutec, the tenth Inca of Peru, for the worship of Pachacamac, the creator and preserver of the world. This rich place of worship was plundered by Pizarro, and the virgins destined to the service of the Deity, though in every respect as sacred as the nuns of Pizarro's religion, were violated by his soldiers; the altars were pillaged and destroyed, and the building was demolished. However, when I visited it in 1817, some of the walls still remained, as if to reproach the descendants of an inhuman monster with his wanton barbarity. I wandered among the remains of this temple, dedicated by a race of men in gratitude to their omnipotent creator and preserver: a house unstained with what bigots curse with the name of idolatry; unpolluted with the blood of sacrifice; uncontaminated with the chaunt of anthems, impiously sung to the Deity after the destruction of a great number of his creatures; of prayers for success, or thanksgivings for victory; but hallowed with the innocent offerings of fruits and flowers, and sanctified with the incense breath of praise, and hymns of joyous gratitude. It is difficult to describe the feelings by which we are affected when we witness the ruins of an edifice destined by its founder to be a monument of national glory, or even of personal honor; but when we contemplate with unprejudiced eyes the remains of a building once sacred to a large portion of our fellow creatures, and raised by them in honour of the great Father of the universe, wantonly destroyed by a being, in whose hands chance had placed more power than his vitiated mind knew how to apply to virtuous purposes—we cannot avoid cursing him, in the bitterness of our anguish. Cold indeed must be the heart of that man who could view the ruins of Pachacamac with less regret than those of Babylon or Jerusalem!

      Pizarro having arrived at Pachacamac, and being desirous of building a city near the sea coast, he sent some of his officers to search for a convenient harbour either to the north or to the south. They first visited the harbour of Chilca, which, though a good one, and near Pachacamac, was still defective; the coast was a sandy desert, and the poor indians who lived upon it for the purpose of fishing were often forced to abandon their houses, because their wells of brackish water became dry. The commissioners were obliged to look out for another situation, and having arrived at Callao they found that its bay was very capacious, with the river Rimac entering it on the north. They afterwards explored the delightful surrounding valley, and reported their success to Pizarro, who immediately came from Pachacamac, and approving of the situation, laid the foundation of Lima, on the south side of the river, about two leagues from the sea. On the 8th day of January, 1534, he removed to it those Spaniards whom he had left for the purpose of building a town at Jauja. Lima is called by the Spaniards La Ciudad de los Reyes, from being founded on the day on which the Roman Church celebrates the epiphany, or the feast of the worshipping of the kings or magi of the east. Its arms are a shield with three crowns, Or, on an azure field, and the star of the east; for supporters the letters J. C. Jane and Charles, with the motto—Hoc signum vere Regum est. These arms and the title of royal city were granted to Lima by the Emperor Charles V. in 1537. Pizarro built a palace for himself, about two hundred yards from the river, on the contrary side of the great square, or plasa mayor, to that where the palace of the Viceroy now stands; and the remains of it may yet be found in the Callejon de Petateros, mat maker's alley. He was murdered here on the 26th of June, 1541.

      According to several