The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-04-11

Especial Correspondence of the Journal
 and Courier.)
 Callao, Peru, March 3, 1903.
 How different is this world-renowned seaport from anything our imagination had pictured-how disappointing in one sense because now showing no trace of it's fifteenth century youth, for the gla- mour with which history has surround ed it! On the contrary, it is the most cosmopolitan, commonplace and mat ter-of-fact sort of city we have yet found in South America; place where English is spoken as much as Spanish, and where people of all nationalities have crowded the easy-going natives to the wall, so far as business is con- cerned. Even the correct pronunciation of its name is a surprise to us. for whereas we were taught in school to say Cal-lay-o, it should be rendered as if spelled Cal-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 dignified by no such name, it is one of the best on this side of the southern continent being shel- tered from prevailing south winds by projecting tongue of land and the high, bare island of San Lorenzo. But the approach to it, as seen through the veil of mist that always overhangs both sea and shore in the early morn ing, is certainly fine. We arrive about 8 a. m and drop anchor a mile from the beach in a fog which the sailors say is thick enough to cut with knife,' and is attributable to the con- densation of tropical moisture by the cold currents of air sweeping north- ward from Antarctic regions. Looming out of the mist, in dim outlines and exaggerated proportions, is a spectral forest of masts and spars belonging to sailing vessels from all seas, steamers. store-ships, coke-hulks and other phan- tom craft; while to the right San Lo- renzo lifts to the sky a lighthouse that is said to be more ornamental than useful, and directly in front rise the cheese shaped turrets that top the fa- nous old castle of San Felipe, above whose yellow walls and massive battle ments the Spanish flag waved for the last time on this continent. To the left, as through a glass darkly," we see a low shore covered with yellowish fnr lack of rain, rising gradually to the foot hills of the Andes. The brown heights seem to stand in close ranks, one be- hind another, each tier mounting high CT. Still beyond them all and behind a stratum of motionless clouds, we faintly 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 Pizarro founded just about three hundred and fifty years ago.
 Hardly has the anchor gone over- board before the steamer is surrounded by a clamoring crowd of mariners, or boatmen, who only await the coming of the captain of the port to swarm upon the decks and besiege passengers with offers of service in rowing them and their luggage ashore; but until his au- gust permission has been given they dare not come nearer than the law al- lows. The autocrat of the port always consults 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 not permit himself to be disturbed or hurried, hoWsoever travellers may rage and impatient sea- men swear, and need not be expected for an hour or more. Meantime. while the waiting mariners are wrangling with one another and endeavoring to secure engagements at long range by shouting to passengers on the steamer, we may as well possess our souls in patience and glean what information we can concerning the locality. That the region is peculiarly volcanic, in common with all the western slopes of the Andes, is proved by the numerous upheavals that have occurred here. The worst of these on record, and one of the most terrible calamities that ever overlook any city, was the great terrimote of October 2S, 1746, which swept the old fort of Callao, which occupied the projecting point of land to the left, with all it's inhabitants, ex- cepting one man, into the sea. It was no a warm, but perfectly calm evening, about half-past ten o'clock, when tremendous shock of earthquake shook both Lima and Callao, doing a great deal of damage in the former city, and in five minutes reducing the latter to mass of ruins. Then 8 huge wave came rolling over the devoted fort, en- gulfing everything and everybody; and five thousand people perished in the raging flood. The waters, which few minutes before had been calm as a mill-pond, suddenly receded to a great distance and then rolled back with such inconceivable force as to sweep not only the town and it's Notifications 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 them was the Spanish man-of-war "St. Fermin,'' and the spot where it was