Читать книгу The Narrative of Twenty Years' Residence in South America - William Bennet Stevenson - Страница 16

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 Spanish authorities Lima is situated in 12° 2´ 51´´ south latitude, and in 70° 50´ 51´´ longitude west of Cadiz. To the northward and eastward of the city hills begin to rise, which ultimately compose a part of the great chain of the Andes; or rather they are parts of the high mountains which run north and south about twenty leagues to the eastward of Lima. These mountains gradually descend to the sea coast, producing between each row beautiful and fertile valleys, of which the Rimac is one. The chain opening at the back of Lima forms the valley Lurigancho, which closes on its suburbs. That of the greatest height, bordering on the city, is called San Cristobal, and the other Amancaes; the former is 1302 feet above the level of the sea, and the latter 2652. The mountains slope towards the west, and when seen from the bridge appear to have reached the level about three miles from that station, which extremity, viewed from the same place, is the point where the sun disappears at the time of the winter solstice. To the south west is the island called San Lorenzo; more to the south lies Morro Solar, about eight miles distant, where large hills of sand are observed, which, stretching to the eastward and gently rising, form with the Amancaes a crescent, enclosing the picturesque valley Rimac, through which the river of that name majestically flows, producing in its course or wherever its influence can be obtained all the beauties of Flora and the gifts of Ceres.

The site of Lima gradually inclines to the westward, the great square, plasa mayor, being 480 feet above the level of the sea. Thus all the streets in this direction, with many of those intersecting them at right angles, have small streams of water running along them, which contribute very much to the cleanliness and salubrity of the city and its inhabitants. The water which runs through the streets, as well as that which feeds the fountains and the canals for the irrigation of gardens, orchards and plantations, which fill the whole valley, is drawn from the river Rimac. This river has its origin in the province of Huarochiri, and receives in its course several small streams, which descend the mountains, and are produced by the melting of the snow on the tops of the Andes, as well as by the rains which fall in the interior, at which time the river swells very much, and covers the whole of its bed, which at other times is in many places almost dry. The water in Lima is said to be crude, holding in solution a considerable quantity of selenite, besides being impregnated with abundance of fixed air; hence, indigestions and other affections of the stomach are attributed to it; but Dr. Unanue very justly asks, "may not these diseases be derived from Cupid and Ceres?" The water is certainly far from being pure; for the artaxea, which supplies the city fountains, and the pugios, which supply the suburbs, called San Lazaro, are stagnant pools; both are often full of aquatic plants, which decay and rot in them; they moreover contain water that has been employed in the irrigation of the plantations and farms at the back of the city, and not unfrequently animals have been drowned in them.

The climate of Lima is extremely agreeable; the heat which would naturally be expected in so low a latitude is seldom felt, and those who have been accustomed to the scorching sun and suffocating heat of Bahia, on the opposite side of the Continent, or to those of Carthagena, in the same latitude, are astonished at the mild and almost equable climate of Lima. The following thermometrical observations, made in the years 1805 and 1810, will evince the truth of what has been asserted:—

THERMOMETRICAL OBSERVATIONS,

MADE AT NOON IN THE SHADE OF AN OPEN ROOM AT LIMA.

	1805		1810
	___	/\	___		___	/\	___
	/		\		/		\
	Max.		Min.		Max.		Min.
January	77		74¾		76		73¾
February	79½		76		77		74¾
March	78½		74¾		77		74¾
April	74¾		72		74¾		71¼
May	73¾		67		71¼		67
June	65¾		65		66		64
July	65		63		64¾		61
August	63½		62¾		63¾		61
September	65		63½		64¾		64
October	65¾		63½		65¾		63½
November	69½		65¾		69½		65½
December	73¾		69½		71½		70
	——		——		——		——
Mean height du-}
ring the Year.}	79½		62¾		77		61
	====		====		====		====

The coolness of the climate is occasioned by the wind and a peculiar state of the atmosphere. The wind generally blows from different points of the compass between the south west and the south east. When from the former direction, it crosses in its course a great portion of the Pacific Ocean, and when it comes from the eastward it has not to pass over sandy deserts or scorching plains, but to traverse first the immense tract of woodland countries lying between the Brazils and Peru, and afterwards the frozen tops of the Cordillera, at a distance of twenty leagues from Lima; so that, in both cases, it is equally cool and refreshing. A northerly wind is very seldom felt in Lima; but when it blows, as if by accident, from that quarter, the heat is rather oppressive. On the 6th of March, 1811, the wind being from the north, I made the following observations with a Farenheit's thermometer, at one o'clock, p. m.

In the shade in an open room	80°
In the air, five yards from the sun's rays	87°
In the sun	106°
Water in the shade from sunrise	74°
Water in a well 20 yards below the surface of the earth	70°
Sea water at Callao at 4 p. m.	64°
Heat of the body, perspiring	96°
———————after cooling in the shade	94°

The heat of the sun in summer is mitigated by a canopy of clouds, which constantly hang over Lima, and although not perceptible from the city, yet when seen from an elevated situation in the mountains, they appear somewhat like the smoke floating in the atmosphere of large towns where coal is burnt; but as this material is not used in Lima, the cause and effect must be different.

If I may be allowed to give an opinion different from that of several eminent persons who have written on the climate of Lima, it is, that the vapours which rise on the coast or from the sea are lifted to a sufficient height by the action of the sun's rays to be caught by the current of wind from the southward and westward, and carried by them into the interior; whilst the exhalations from the city and its suburbs only rise to a lower region, and are not acted upon by the wind, but remain in a quiescent state of perfect equilibrium, hanging over the city during the day, and becoming condensed by the coolness of the night, when they are precipitated in the form of dew, which is always observable in the morning on the herbage.

Lima may be justly said to enjoy one of the most delightful climates in the world; it is a succession of spring and summer, as free from the chills of winter as from the sultry heats of autumn.

Notwithstanding this almost constant equability, some writers have imagined that four seasons are distinguishable. Such persons, however, must undoubtedly have either been endowed with peculiar sensibility, or have been gifted with an amazing philosophy. Not content with the beauties of this climate, some have attached to it the properties which belong to the ultra-tropical countries—jealous perhaps of the theoretical comforts from which they are practically free, and in the full enjoyment of a climate the maximum heat of which seldom exceeds 78° of Farenheit's thermometer, and the minimum of which is seldom below 62°, wishing to perfect it by having the maximum at 100°, and the minimum below zero! Peralta, in his 8th canto, has very quaintly described the beautiful climate of this city:—