Callao

“ His motive for desiring to take the sloop to Islay or Arica, rather than to Callao, was pretty obvious, but why he should change his mind on the subject simply because of the compass, passed my comprehension. We could make Callao merely by running up the coast, with which, despite his disclaimer, I had not the least doubt he was quite familiar; and even if he were not, there was nothing in a compass to enlighten him. ”

“ The Callao of the present day is a dirty, ugly hole, with narrow streets, and low houses built principally of mud and cane, with flat roofs. Only a few of the houses of foreigners, erected out of hearing of the hubbub of the port, form a grateful exception. The entire population will be about 20,000 souls. ”

“ That night Callao, with its three thousand odd inhabitants, with barely a moment’s warning, sank beneath the sea, and that same night a gigantic island arose out of the sea just off the coast, and five miles from the site of the old town of Callao. The island is nine miles long, one mile wide and nine hundred and fifty feet high. ”

“ The modern town of Callao stands at the distance of two miles from the site of the old town, of which not a vestige remains. It is popularly affirmed that in a clear day the ruins of the old town may still be seen beneath the waves; but travelers, whose imagination is not keener than their vision, have vainly strained their sight to discover a trace of the lost city. ”

“ In the rear stretches a broad plain, sloping upward toward a crescent-shaped range of barren hills, which inclose the fertile valley of the Lurigancho. At the foot of the mountains, apparently, rise the countless spires and towers of Lima, drawn up in relief against their dark sides. Still further in the distance are seen the giant ranges of the Andes, whose snowy summits are usually vailed by thick and sombre clouds. The harbor of Callao is magnificent; and the landing, at a fine mole built of stone, and surrounded by a substantial iron railing, is good. ”

“ Not much time was lost in moving up to the proper moorings in the harbour, some two miles distant, and about noon we were set on land close to the custom-house.
LANDING AT CALLAO.
The boatmen, the porters, and the nondescript hangers-on about the quays of a port, formed a strange and motley assemblage, in whose countenances three very distinct types of humanity—the European, the negro, and the South American Indian—were mingled in the most varied proportions, scarcely one denoting an unmixed origin. The arrangements at Callao are convenient for strangers. ”

“ BLOCKADE OF CALLAO HARBOR. Louis Dartmoor and Carl Saunders were early astir at the home of the latter’s parents in La Punta the next morning. The Peruvian residence of the American captain was a suite of rooms in a large, rambling hotel, situated at the extreme tip of the narrow peninsula that juts into the Pacific west of Callao, and forms, with San Lorenzo Island, three miles distant, a shelter for the bay. ”

“ While the liberating army, under General San Martin, was removing to Ancon, Lord Cochrane, with part of his squadron, anchored in the outer roads of Callao. The inner harbour was guarded by an extensive system of batteries, admirably constructed, and bearing the general name of the 'Castles of Callao.' The merchant ships, as well as the men of war, consisting of the Esmeralda, a large 40-gun frigate, and two sloops of war, were moored under the guns of the castle, within a semicircle of fourteen gun-boats, and a boom made of spars chained together. ”

“ The population of Callao is 30,000, but in the daytime it seems to be larger, as many of the people doing business at the port live at [p. 84] Lima, which is only nine miles inland and is connected by an electric trolley and two steam railways. The foreign commercial colony is a large one. Much of its social life centres in the English Club.
All the commerce of central Peru passes through Callao. The shipping is extensive. Enterprising Chinese merchants have established a direct line to Hongkong via Panama, but the ships flying the English flag exceed all the other nations. ”

“ On the 17th we saw the island of San Lorenzo, off the town of Callao; and the next day we were “standing off and on” in the Bay of Callao, Peru. Our captain here went ashore to obtain medical advice and assistance for Mr. Lowe, our second officer, who has been for some time off duty, sick, his right side being affected with palsy.
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This town is well laid out, the houses mostly one story. The streets are of good width and clean. ”

“ Hence distrust in commerce; and hence the sailor will not find a tithe of the shipping in Callao Roads that he will at the wharfs of Valparaiso. Lima, the capital, is situated behind Callao, at a distance of about six miles. When seen from the deck of a vessel in the roadstead, the city has a most imposing appearance, with its innumerable domes and spires rising from so elevated a situation, and wearing a strange and rather Moorish air. On nearing the city, everything speaks eloquently of past splendour and present wretchedness ”

“ I only remarked to Jerry that they were very great fools for their pains. A little way up the bay, on the mainland, is the sea-port of Pisco, a neat Spanish-built place. In the neighbourhood are numerous remains, which prove how populous must have been the country under the sway of the Incas.
Sailing north, we entered the Bay of Callao, the port of Lima. Before us lay Callao, with rich green plains on either side, covered with white farms and willow-trees, with the high cliffs of Morro Solar to the south, and below it the bathing-place of Cherillos. ”

“ These apprehensions of an embargo along the coast, and of the equipment of the Spanish squadron at Callao, determined the commodore to hasten down to the leeward of Callao, and to join Captain Michel (who was stationed off Paita) as soon as possible, that our strength being united we might be prepared to give the ships from Callao a warm reception, if they dared to put to sea. With this view we bore away the same afternoon, taking particular care to keep at such a distance from the shore that there might be no danger of our being discovered from thence ”

“ Callao is the principal port of the republic, its harbour being a large bay sheltered by a tongue of land on the south called La Punta, and by the islands of San Lorenzo and Fronton. The anchorage is good and safe, and the harbour is one of the best on the Pacific coast of South America. The city stands on the south side of the bay, and is built on a flat point of land only 8 ft. above sea-level. The houses are for the most part low and cheaply built, and the streets are narrow, badly paved, irregular and dirty. ”

“ Besides furnishing the trading ships bound from the north for Callao with water and other necessary [pg 374] refreshments this port of Payta is the usual place where passengers from Acapulco and Panama, bound to Lima, disembark; as the voyage from hence to Callao, the port of Lima, is two hundred leagues, and is extremely tedious and fatiguing, owing to the wind being almost always contrary; whereas there is a tolerably good road by land, running nearly parallel to the coast, with many stations and villages for the accommodation of travellers. ”

“ After a voyage of eighty days across the Pacific, Mendaña discovered the Solomon Islands; and the expedition returned in safety to Callao. The appearance of Drake on the Peruvian coast led to an expedition being fitted out at Callao, to go in chase of him, under the command of Pedro Sarmiento. He sailed from Callao in October 1579, and made a careful survey of the Strait of Magellan, with the object of fortifying that entrance to the South sea. ”

“ Callao is an ill-built though important town, with a population of about thirty thousand, and serves as the port for Lima, the capital of Peru. It has a good harbor, well protected by the island of San Lorenzo, which, with the small island of El Fronton, and the Palminos reef, forms a protection against the constant swell of the ocean. There are nearly always one or two ships of war belonging to foreign nations in the harbor, and large steamships from the north or the south. The sailing distance from Panama is fifteen hundred miles. The Callao of to-day is comparatively modern. ”

“ The church is unsectarian, and is largely sustained by the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, a British corporation which has a monopoly of commerce on the west coast, and keeps its headquarters at Callao. No attempt at Protestant missionary work has ever been made in Peru, although Mr. Thompson says the field is very inviting. His time is spent mostly among the sailors who haunt Callao by the hundreds, and in looking after the English-speaking congregation under his charge. There is no Sunday in Peru. ”

“ Proceeding northward of Lima, 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 here and at Lima, present every imaginable shade of mixture, between European, Negro, and Indian blood. They appear a depraved, drunken set of people. ”

“ Accordingly Jim returned to the flagship, where he was heartily welcomed by his old comrades, who informed him that the destination of the squadron was thought to be Callao, and that in all probability the Chilians would bombard the place, and then endeavour to take Lima, the Peruvian capital; so that there promised to be plenty of excitement and adventure in store for everybody. ”

“ Let any one see the snow-capt mountains at the back of Lima, and that city of spires lying among the dark orange groves at their feet, at daybreak from Callao, and he will say the sight is worth a stave at least ”

“ The Royalist army under Olañeta was dissolved by a mutiny, in which that General was killed, and Sucre, after overrunning the country, convened an Assembly to decide upon its future policy.
The Spanish squadron abandoned the coasts of Peru and dispersed in the Pacific. The island of Chiloe was the last position held by the Spaniards, but soon shared the fate of Callao. The poet of the century, perched in imagination on the summit of Chimborazo, cast his eyes over the New World and saw not one enslaved people. ”

“ The two rascals had arrived in Callao a week before, and at Lima had exchanged their pearls for substantial sums, so that they were well provided with money. They made no long stay at Lima, but hastened to Santa Rosa, where Durkee fell in with two old acquaintances, to wit, the two South Americans who were now leagued with them. ”

“ Callao is the only seaport below Panama having docks which may be approached by large ships. The slope of the beaches is so gradual that even for the use of the lighters long piers are necessary. Etén has an especially poor anchorage, an open roadstead where there is often a moderate swell, so that the passing traveler seldom goes ashore. Frequently passengers must be taken on board by means of a sort of barrel or hogshead destitute of one side. One person sits, another stands on the edge. ”

“ Next to Callao in its importance as a Peruvian port, is the little town of Mollendo, for from it starts the principal railway in the country, that called the Southern of Peru, which climbs the Andes, traverses the central plateau, and sends out branches to Cuzco on the north, and on the southeast to the frontier of Bolivia, on the shore of Lake Titicaca. It is the main avenue to the interior of the country. ”

“ 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 Indians came down early, with horses to let for the day, and all the crew, who could obtain liberty, went off to the Presidio and mission, and did not return until night. I had seen enough of San Diego, and went on board and spent the day with some of the crew, whom I found quietly at work in the forecastle, mending and washing their clothes, and reading and writing. They told me that the ship stopped at Callao in the passage out, and there lay three weeks. She had a passage of little over eighty days from Boston to Callao, which is one of the shortest on record. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The first landing was at Pisco, about one hundred miles south of Callao, and connected by a short line of railway with the cotton regions of Iça. As they approached the port they passed the Chincha Islands, which have become famous as the place whence millions of tons of guano have been brought to Europe and America. Frank and Fred wished to know something about the guano trade, and the Doctor kindly informed them. ”

“ I had, however, other reasons for quitting Callao. The newly-arrived Spanish frigate Prueba, was at large, and as I had reason to believe, was sheltering at Guayaquil, from which port I made up my mind to dislodge her. The Government had not sent any of the promised supplies for the squadron, which was running short of provisions, so that it was necessary to resort to my former practice of compelling the Spaniards to furnish them; whilst as no troops had been supplied, it was clear that there had never been an intention of sending any ”