The Surface
Of The Plain Is 3300 Feet Above The Pacific.
19th. - We anchored in the Bay of Callao, the seaport of
Lima, the capital of Peru.
We stayed here six weeks but
from the troubled state of public affairs, I saw very little of
the country. During our whole visit the climate was far
from being so delightful, as it is generally represented. A
dull heavy bank of clouds constantly hung over the land, so
that during the first sixteen days I had only one view of the
Cordillera behind Lima. These mountains, seen in stages,
one above the other, through openings in the clouds, had a
very grand appearance. It is almost become a proverb, that
rain never falls in the lower part of Peru. Yet this can
hardly be considered correct; for during almost every day of
our visit there was a thick drizzling mist, which was sufficient
to make the streets muddy and one's clothes damp: this the
people are pleased to call Peruvian dew. That much rain
does not fall is very certain, for the houses are covered only
with flat roofs made of hardened mud; and on the mole shiploads
of wheat were piled up, being thus left for weeks together
without any shelter.
I cannot say I liked the very little I saw of Peru: in
summer, however, it is said that the climate is much pleasanter.
In all seasons, both inhabitants and foreigners suffer
from severe attacks of ague. This disease is common on the
whole coast of Peru, but is unknown in the interior. The
attacks of illness which arise from miasma never fail to appear
most mysterious. So difficult is it to judge from the
aspect of a country, whether or not it is healthy, that if a
person had been told to choose within the tropics a situation
appearing favourable for health, very probably he would
have named this coast. The plain round the outskirts of
Callao is sparingly covered with a coarse grass, and in some
parts there are a few stagnant, though very small, pools of
water. The miasma, in all probability, arises from these:
for the town of Arica was similarly circumstanced, and its
healthiness was much improved by the drainage of some
little pools. Miasma is not always produced by a luxuriant
vegetation with an ardent climate; for many parts of Brazil,
even where there are marshes and a rank vegetation, are
much more healthy than this sterile coast of Peru. The
densest forests in a temperate climate, as in Chiloe, do not
seem in the slightest degree to affect the healthy condition
of the atmosphere.
The island of St. Jago, at the Cape de Verds, offers another
strongly marked instance of a country, which any one
would have expected to find most healthy, being very much
the contrary. I have described the bare and open plains as
supporting, during a few weeks after the rainy season, a thin
vegetation, which directly withers away and dries up: at this
period the air appears to become quite poisonous; both natives
and foreigners often being affected with violent fevers.
On the other hand, the Galapagos Archipelago, in the Pacific,
with a similar soil, and periodically subject to the same
process of vegetation, is perfectly healthy. Humboldt has
observed, that, "under the torrid zone, the smallest marshes
are the most dangerous, being surrounded, as at Vera Cruz
and Carthagena, with an arid and sandy soil, which raises
the temperature of the ambient air." [5] On the coast of Peru,
however, the temperature is not hot to any excessive degree;
and perhaps in consequence, the intermittent fevers are not
of the most malignant order. In all unhealthy countries the
greatest risk is run by sleeping on shore. Is this owing to
the state of the body during sleep, or to a greater abundance
of miasma at such times? It appears certain that those
who stay on board a vessel, though anchored at only a short
distance from the coast, generally suffer less than those
actually on shore. On the other hand, I have heard of one
remarkable case where a fever broke out among the crew of
a man-of-war some hundred miles off the coast of Africa,
and at the same time one of those fearful periods [6] of death
commenced at Sierra Leone.
No state in South America, since the declaration of
independence, has suffered more from anarchy than Peru. At
the time of our visit, there were four chiefs in arms contending
for supremacy in the government: if one succeeded
in becoming for a time very powerful, the others coalesced
against him; but no sooner were they victorious, than they
were again hostile to each other. The other day, at the
Anniversary of the Independence, high mass was performed, the
President partaking of the sacrament: during the _Te Deum
laudamus_, instead of each regiment displaying the Peruvian
flag, a black one with death's head was unfurled. Imagine
a government under which such a scene could be ordered, on
such an occasion, to be typical of their determination of
fighting to 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 town. The
barren island of St. Lorenzo, which forms the harbour, was
nearly the only place where one could walk securely. The
upper part, which is upwards of 1000 feet in height, during
this season of the year (winter), comes within the lower
limit of the clouds; and in consequence, an abundant cryptogamic
vegetation, and a few flowers cover the summit. On
the hills near Lima, at a height but little greater, the ground
is carpeted with moss, and beds of beautiful yellow lilies,
called Amancaes. This indicates a very much greater degree
of humidity, than at a corresponding height at Iquique.
Proceeding northward of Lima, the climate becomes damper,
till on the banks of the Guayaquil, nearly under the equator,
we find the most luxuriant forests.
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