LIMA, containing the capital of Peru, stretches from S. hit. 10° 18' to 15° 30', bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the south-west, by Tarma north and north-cast, Guancavelica cast, and Guamanga and Arequipa south cast. It is about 400 miles in length along the Pacific Ocean, with a mean breadth of 80 miles inland; area 32,000 square miles. Being comprised in great pat( of the valley of the Pacific coast, though containing the capital, Lima is not so well peopled as are the provinces spreading along the table land of the Andes. In 1795, there were in Lima 22,370 whites, 63,180 Indians, 13,747 Mestizoes, 17,864 Mulattoes, and 29,763 slaves, forming an aggregate of 146,924.
Lima, the capital, stands on the high plain of Rimac, from which by a curious corruption the permanent name of the city was derived. Called in the first instance Ciu dad de los Reyes, Lima was founded, January 15th, 1535, by Francis Pizarro, and with many other of his works, evinces the keen sagacity of that ferocious con queror. The city is six miles from Callao its port, and though the intermediate space is level, it is nevertheless an inclined plane, rising from the ocean upwards of five hundred feet. This gradual but comparatively great ele vation gives to Lima its admired command of view, and also enables the inhabitants to drain their streets by con stant running water, from the small river, the mouth of which forms the harbour of Callao. The houses, public
and private, are many of them as splendid and solid as the frequent occurrence of earthquakes will admit. The churches are numerous, but the most important edifice is that of the University, founded in 1576. The number of inhabitants has been stated variously, but generally supposed about 54,000, of whom one third are whites. Having been for nearly three centuries the centre of com merce and political power, Lima is a city of much wealth and luxury, and is beyond any dispute the finest city of America on the Pacific coast.
Callao, though six miles from Lima, cannot be regard ed as more than a suburb, though containing a popula tion of 6000 souls. The inhabitants of both cities have been admired for urbanity of manners, and a lively active genius. The adjacent country is in a peculiar manner delightful, but the pleasure of viewing this beautiful pic ture is damped by the reflection that it is the outside of a region liable to frequent and most destructive earth quakes. In 1786, Lima was shaken and upwards of a thousand of its inhabitants destroyed ; and at the same moment Callao was ingulfed, and only two hundred out of four thousand lives were saved. This was only one of many similar visitations recorded in the history of the two cities.