It may be well here to advert to a phenomenon which has as yet remained unnoticed. The heavy rains which fall on the Cordillera of the Andes are the effect of evaporation from the Pacific Ocean, and these rains feed the enormous streams which supply those rivers that empty themselves into the Atlantic. It therefore follows, that the Atlantic is furnished with water from the Pacific; and if, as some have believed, the Atlantida existed between the coasts of Africa and America, its western shores being opposite to the mouth of the river Amazon, its inundation may have been occasioned by the heavy rains in the Andes.

The vegetable mould in the valley of Lima is about two feet deep, and is extremely rich, amply repaying the labour of cultivation. Below the mould is a stratum of sand and pebbles, extending about three leagues from the sea-coast; and under this a stratum of indurated clay, apparently of alluvial depositions. The latter seems to have been once the bottom of the sea, and may have been raised above the level of the surface by some great convulsion; for I cannot suppose with Moreno, Unanue and others, that the water has retired from this coast so much as to occasion a fall of more than four hundred feet in perpendicular height, which the stratum of sand and pebbles holds above the level of the sea at its extreme distance from the coast.

May not the same principles account for the general belief, that the surface of the Atlantic on the eastern shores of the New World is above the level of the Pacific on the western shores, notwithstanding the apparent contradiction of the currents running round Cape Horn into the Atlantic? Perhaps the asserted elevation, particularly in the Gulph of Mexico, is owing to the prevailing winds that drive the surface water into the gulf, its free egress by a sub-current being impeded by the range of the Antilles, whose bases may occupy a greater space than their surfaces, and also to the existence of rocks under water.

Although Lima is free from the terrifying effects of thunder and lightning, it is subject to dreadful convulsions which are far more frightful and destructive. Earthquakes are felt every year, particularly after the mists disperse and the summer sun begins to heat the earth. They are more commonly felt at night, two or three hours after sunset, or in the morning about sunrise. The direction which they have been observed to keep has generally been from south to north, and experience has shewn, that from the equator to the Tropic of Capricorn the most violent concussions have taken place about once in every fifty years. Since the conquest the following, which occurred at Arequipa, Lima and Quito, have been the most violent:—

AREQUIPA. LIMA. QUITO.
158215861587
160416301645
168716871698
171517461757
178418061797
1819

It has been remarked, that the vegetable world suffers very much by a great shock, the country about Lima, and all the range of coast were particularly affected by that which happened in 1678. The crops of wheat, maize, and other grain were entirely destroyed, and for several years afterwards the ground was totally unproductive. At that period wheat was first brought from Chile, which country has ever since been considered the granary of Lima, Guayaquil, and Panama. Feijo, in his description of the province of Truxillo, says, "that some of the valleys which produced two hundred fold of wheat before the earthquake in 1687 did not reproduce the seed after it for more than twenty years;" and according to the latest information from Chile the crops have failed since the earthquake in 1822. The following shocks were felt in Lima in the years 1805 and 1810:—

1805 1810
_________/\_________________/\________
/\/\
January9, at 7½ P. M.January7, at 9 A. M.
...10, ... 5 A. M....11, ... 5 P. M.
...27, ... 9 P. M.May3, ... 7½ A. M.
February17, ... 6 P. M....15, ... 5 A. M.
...21, ... 4½ P. M....16, ... 7 P. M.
March1, ... 5 A. M.June15, ... 5½ A. M.
June4, ... 4½ P. M.Nov.17, ... 5 A. M.
July1, ... 5 A. M....21, ... 7½ A. M.
Nov.7, ... 8 P. M....24, ... 5 P. M.
...9, ... 8½ P. M.... 26, ... 5½ P. M.
Dec.5, ... 7½ P. M.
...14, ... 4½ P. M.

When one or two faint shocks are felt in the moist weather, they are supposed to indicate a change, and the same is expected in the dry or hot weather.

The principal produce of the valley of Lima is sugar cane, lucern, alfalfa, maize, wheat, beans, with tropical and European fruit, as well as culinary vegetables.