The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-27
FAMED PORT OF PERU.
Sights That Are Witnessed From
the Deck of Steamer.
The Way That the Natives Pronounce Callao
An Earthquake That in 1746 Swept
5000 Out to Sea.


| journal with the following concerning Peru,
where PizarrO once held sway:
| How different is the renowned seaport OF
CallaO from anything our Imagination had
| pictured-h0w disappointing In one sense
because now showing no traces of it's
fifteenth century youth nor the glamour
with which history and tradition have sur
rounded 1t. On the contrary, it is the most
cosmopolitan, commonplace and matter-of-
| fact sort Of city we have vet found in South
| America; place where English is spoken
almost as much as Spanish, and where
| people Of all nationalities have crowded
the easy-going natives to the wall, so far as
business is concerned. Even the correct
| pronunciation of its name is surprise to us,
| for whereas we were taught in school to say
Cal-lay-o, it should be rendered as if spell ed
Coi-yow, with the accent strong on the last
| syllable.
Though the harbor is nothing to boast of,
and on our storm-swept northern coast
would be digniied by no such name, it is
one OF the best on this side Of the Southern
Continent. being sheltered from prevailing
winds which blow from the south and
southwest by the high, bare Islands of San
Lorenzo and a projecting tongue of land.
! But the approach to it as seen through the
veil OF mist that always Overhangs both sea
and shore i'll the early morning is certainly
| fine
We arrive about o'clock in the morning
and drop anchor mile from the beach. in a
| log which the sailors say is thick enough
| to cut with knife" and is attributable to
the condensation Of tropical moisture by the
| cold currents of air sweeping nOrtlIlRaJd
from Antartaric regions. Looming 0{Eof
the mist, in dim outlines and exaggerated
| proportions, Is spectral forest of masts and
| spars belonging to sailing vessels from all
seas, steamers, store-ships, coke-hulks and
MI n~ hon 81 H. b. ...lxA
Lorenzo lifts to the skies lighthouse that
| is said to be more ornamental than useful,
and directly in front rise the cheese-shaped
turrets that top the famous old castle of San
| Felipe, above whose yellow walls and mas
sive battlements the Spanish flag waved for
| the last time on this continent.
| To the left, "as through glass darklv,"
| we see low shore covered with yellowish
| verdure, and trees pale-green for lack of
rain, rising gradually to the foothills of the
| Andes. The brown heights seem to stand
| in close ranks, one behind another, each tier
mounting higher,
TILL BEYOND
| Them all and behind stratum of motion
| less cloud we family discern the snowy
| Cordillera blending with the blue of the
| sky. AT the base of those brown hills, only
six miles inland, lies the ultima thule of our
| dreams-Lima, the City of Kings" which
| Pizarfo founded just 335 years ago.
Hardly has the anchor gone overheard be-
| fore the steamer is surrounded by clamor-
| Ing crowd OF marineros, or boatmen, who
only await the coming of the Captain Of the
| Port to swarm upon the decks and besiege
| the passengers with offers Of service in row.
| ing them and their luggage ashore; but un-
| til his august permission has been given
hey dare not come nearer than the law al
| lows. The autocrat of the port always con-
suits his own convenience about coming.
He may be sleeping late from last nights
| revel, or chatting with friends, or taking his
| morning coffee; at any rate he does no. per
| nit himself to be disturbed UT hurried, how
| ever travellers may rage and impatient sea-
men swear, and need not be expected for an
| hour or more. Meantime. while the waiting
| marineros are wranglng with one another
and endeavoring to secure engagements from
distance by shouting to passengers on the
| steamer, we may as well possess our souls
in patience" and CLEAN what information
| we can concerning the locality.
A communicative mate directs our atten-
| tion to some Sea-li0ns that are bObbing about
among the shipping. He tells us that 1t is
| great fun to watch them and observe how
they mock humanity in their flirtations and
| jealousies, their love-making and final set
| Ting down to family life. Listen moment
| at any time of the day and you may hear
| their unmusical voices, half barking, half
! bowling. Astounding all up and down this
| coast they have refused to he entirely driven
away, even from this busy harbor, and nave
| grown almost tame.
There are no end of the tales one NAV
| listen to concerning the freaks of the Gal
lao painter" as mysterious local phenom-
enon is called-an ,aggravating artist, who
works with invisible brushes and confines
his operations solely to this harbor, never
going inland nor out to sea, nor more than
few miles north and SOUTH All Sea-goers
know with what care the sailors are res
CURED to scrub and clean every part of a
vessel before 1t comes into port, till every
inch of it, outside and in, is spotless md
shining as soapSuds, elbow grease and
"h0ly-stone" Can make it.
AFTER ALL THIS LABOR,
Imagine the disgust of the tired seamen
when. perhaps the very next morning after
anchoring in Callao Bay, they awake 10 find
the ship coated all over from stem to stern
with greasy, sticky, chocolate-colored film
which penetrates every crack and seam, and
even forces its way through the battened
hatchways. The Callao painter has been at
work.
He always comes in the night, without the
slightest premonitiOn, and fills the air with a
repulsiye od0r. Ii the slime is scrubbed
While yet damp, with plenty of soap and a
stiff brush, its stains may be removed; but
if allowed to dry on, nothing but scraping
will bulge it, and the cheapest and easiest
way will be to put coat or two of paint on
over 1t. VI course there are many theories
regarding this strange frost which no sun
can melt. Some say that it is kind Of
grease forced up into the atmosphere of this
particular spot by vapors beneath the sea !;
while others attribute it to species of vol
canic dust driven through the water by sub
tcrranean forces On only one point are
all agreed; that the sticky, Sinking film,
which is found nowhere else ON earth. has
given just cause for more profanity than all
the storms that ever blew into Callao harbor,
That the region is peculiarly volcanic in
common with all the western slopes of the
Andes, is proved by the numerous upheav-
ais that have occurred here. The worst of
these on record, and one Of the most terrible
the great terrimOte of October 2S, l746, which
swept the old port of Callao, which occupied
the projecting point Of land to the left, with
all its inhabitants, excepting one man,
into the sea. 1t was on warm
but perfectly calm evening. about 1880
O'Clock, when tremendous shock of
earthquake shook both Lima ami Callao,
doing great deal of damage in the for
mer city, and in five minutes reducing
the latter to mass of ruins. Then
huge wave came rolling into the devoted
port, eDgulhng everything and everybody {;
and 5000 people palished in the raging
flood. The waters. which few minutes
before had been calm as mill-pond sud
denly receded to great distance and then
rolled back with such tremendous force as
cations and inhabitants out of existence,
but score OF ships at anchor in the harbor
were destroyed. Several others were borne
far inland on the breast OF the wave, which,
instantly receding. left them stranded high
and dry. One Of these was the Spanish
man-of-war st. Fermin, and the spot where
1t was stranded, between the present Callao
and Buena Vista, is marked by
SMALL MONUMENT.
Naturally 1t took long time for the citi-
zens OF Lima to recover from their panic;
and then they chose what was believed to be
a better locality for their sea gate (where
stands the modern Callao), and defended it
by castle in the form Of a pentagon, with
two round towers and curtain" on the
ocean face. Though carefully built to resist
human invasion, and mounted with cannon.
it would be but plaything for the invisible
but all-potent forces of earth, air and sea
and the people trembe in their boots when
ever terrimots gives them never SO slight
shaking. Again in 1925 Callao had mar
row escape from total destruction; and
many lesser shocks have done more or less
damage.
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