National Republican., 1883-10-16
HOW a SAINT FOUND AN 1LAND.

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The Legend OF snn norcnsr, N,Hr calIno -
The Principal Harbor Ok Peru ANA the
Many Curious and Interesting Things
TO be Seen There.
!spccfW Lencr.
tCALLAo, PERU, Sept. 12.Tho harbor of
Calao is formed by long, low, sandy point
which stretches out on tho southern side.
This point is extended by n shoal, which ter
mnatos in large rounded one, which is Just
a wash, and Is called the whales back. Be-
yond that there is narrow passage called
the Bogucson, which is bounded ON the sea
side by tho island of San Lorenzo To the
northward there is a straight stretch of coast
for twenty miles, where you SEQ the Pesca-
dores, two small rocky islands.
San LorenzJ Is tho quarantine station. and
il is beautiful island. There is not q parii-
clio Of vcrduro on it except in one place, near
| the summit of the highest hill, which, ever
since / have been horc, has generally been
| cnveloped in fog. Tho hills extend in tho
samo direction as tho island its whole length,
| and arc high, the highest being 1,78i feet.
| You hardly miss vcrduro when looking at
this island, for the earth has so many bcaut-
| ful shades of brown, yellow, and rcd that ono
soon grows fond of watching tho tints and
seeing them change us tho clouds pass over.
This is the original homo of the white potato,
| and tho little green that l mentioned is
| formed by leaves Of this plant, which are
growing wild
There is q legend hero that once upon
| time there was very good fisherman, lorenzo
by name, and that one day while out in his
boat an earthquake took place and threw up
an island, lodging his boat uninjured upon
| the southern end. Upon the spot whore this
miracle took place aloes sprang spontaneously
from the ground, forming large cross, aud
aloes are there to this day. Lorenzo spent
tho remainder of his life on the island in
| prayer, and whenever On earthquake took
| place the people would bring him down and
| put his feet in the water, when Immediately
the earthquake would cease. Upon his death
Lorenzo was canonized, and the island has
always been called after him.
A good Catholic the other day told me this
was not so, but other people say 1t is, so give
you the story, and you can believe it or not.
The south end looks as If n large piece had
! been split off with broad knife. and the
piece is called Fronton island. On the beach
at Fronton there are generally to be found
| numbers of sea lions and the waters all about
Callao are filled with hair seal that are very
tame when busy fishing, and will como up
| within few feet of boat, looking at you
curiously with their big brown eyes, then,
giving a snort, disappear. They grow fat
and thrive on the numerous schools of fish,
| two or three of which can be seen nearly
every day in some part OF the bay Wherever
q seal is fishing several pelicans follow him,
and sometimes there are any quantity of them.
Rising on their large wings they soar about un-
| til they see victim, then rising quite
high. they dive into the water head first, with
q good deal of force, making the spray fly.
| Coming quickly to the surface again, they
| settle down and seem to spend several min
utes killing and adjusting the fish in their
pouches, then, throwing their heads up, down
| he Slips and they depart in search of more.
| The sea gulls are numberless but generally
| they sit on the beaches in long rows, almost
hiding the sand. However, if they catch
| sight of anything they like, or sec some of
their number swooping down to the water
and screaming, they all rise and investigate,
making a great hubbub. Then there are
| fish hawks that seem to hunt in flocks, and
descend upon their prey in mannor that
reminds you more of lead dropping in a
| shot tower than anything else that know of.
They have been having yellow fever here
pretty badly, but it was chiefly among the
Chilian troops and has about disappeared,
although a fresh case every now and then
makes some of the doctors think an epidemic
| is sure to come in the summer, but they, of
course, cannot be certain, and the Chilians
are straining every nerve to keep the place
clean and healthy. At one time they had
disinfectant spread all over the streets, and
burned barrels of tar morning and evening
i
necessary.
Callao is q great point for the termination
of steamship lines, having Two to Europe and
numberless ones up and down the coast, all of
which makes it thriving place, and last
month the custom house receipts were nearly
100000, which must have delighted the
hearts of the Chilians, although, of course,
they would not be as large if these people
had not made the import duties much larger
than formerly, and levied export duties be-
Sides
Chilan flags float over the place, and one
must admire it for it is so pretty. 1t consists
of one red and one white horizontal stripe and
blue field, with one large white star in it.
One can see the flags of almost every nation
at the wharves; but it seems to me that after
ours the Chilian is the handsomest.
There are two railway stations, one for the
English road which runs to Lima and Cho-
rillos, and tho other for the American line
which runs to Lima and Chicla. There are
several pretty plazas in Callao, two of which
have little gardens in them and have seats
about outside The streets North Ameri-
can would hardly admire at first, they are SC
narrow and dusty, and the sides of the one
storied houses facing the street look very
unpromising. although, of course, you cannot
by them judge Of the interiors.
Lima, with her many quaint church towers
trees, and houses looks beautifully as it lic'
in the sunshine on sloping ground sever
miles distant, and near the foot of the noun
tains, which here run near the coast. Ny
eyes often turn toward it with pleasure, anC
l anticipate spending many days there ex
ploring tho hooks and corners.
MARGUERITE DICKINs.
D