Lima. The Departments of Lima and Ica follow, in which the mountains come closer to the shore than in the greater part of the country, and the rivers except at the extreme south are nearer together. Thus the Departments exhibit much verdure, a larger proportion of the country being devoted to agriculture. A minor port of Lima is Supe, followed by Huacho, of more importance and connected with the capital by rail, 150 miles, passing Ancón, a frequented summer seashore resort.
Callao, the port of Lima and the chief port of Peru, is with its suburbs a little Province all by itself, surrounded by the Department of Lima except on the ocean side.
Cerro Azul is a more southern port in the Department of Lima, serving a very mountainous section, with fertile valleys producing sugar, cotton, vegetables, etc., and in the mountains many minerals.
Ica is an extremely fertile Department, raising very fine grapes and other fruits, sugar cane and cotton; also corn, alfalfa, divi-divi, and ají, a kind of pepper much used in Peru and other countries. Wine making is a very important industry. Minerals exist, but are not much worked except a silver mine.
Ica, the capital, centre of the finest grape country in the Republic, is 46 miles by rail from Pisco, the chief port, and the most important one between Callao and Mollendo. Lomas is a smaller port in the Department. Ica has some good land uncultivated, but needing irrigation.
Arequipa, the last littoral Department, has five minor ports besides the primary port, Mollendo, second in importance in Peru; but the port is a very poor one, no real harbor at all. Chala is a port of call for some steamers, but the rest are very minor: Camaná, at the mouth of the Majes River which comes down from Mt. Coropuna, Quilca, Matarani, and Islay, the last two not far north of Mollendo, and with better harbors. Along here the mountains are farther back and some have much snow, so that several rivers present good possibilities for additional irrigation. Cotton, sugar, and grapes grow in the valleys; corn, potatoes, and cereals higher up. There is a variety of mineral products: the most important, silver from Cailloma; but gold, copper, lead, coal, borax, sulphur, manganese, alum, gypsum, are found, and some of them are exported.
The Southern Railway of Peru, leading up from Mollendo, is an important line which will be referred to later. Back of the coastal bluffs, which rise on irregular slopes 3000 feet or more, is a desert plateau of especial interest, on account of the sand dunes 10-12 feet high which move slowly over it.
Moquegua, a Province south, the last district held by Peru, has a primary port, Ilo, from which a railway 62 miles long extends to its capital, Moquegua. The soil of the Province is especially adapted to grapes and olives, which with wine and oil are the chief exports. Many varieties of minerals are known to exist here in quantity.
The Sierra Region
This, perhaps the best populated of the three sections, comprises seven Departments, some of which run over or down into the montaña, as most of the Coast Departments run up into the sierra.