XXII.
An Overland Journey from Valparaiso to Gibraltar, viâ the Isthmus of Panama.
16th May To 1st August, 1859.
Departure from Valparaiso.—Coquimbo.—Caldera.—Cobija.—Iquique.—Manufacture of saltpetre.—Arica.—Port d'Islay.—Medanos, or wandering sand-hills.—Chola.—Pisco.—The Chincha or Guano Islands.—Remarks respecting the Guano or Huanu beds.—Callao.—Lima.—Carrion crows, the principal street-scavengers.—Churches and Monasteries.—Hospitals.—Charitable institutions.—Medical College.—National Library.—Padre Vigil.—National Museum.—The Central Normal School.—Great lack of intellectual energy.—Ruins of Cajamarquilla.—Chorillos.—Temple to the Sun at Pachacamác.—River Rimac.—Amancaes.—The new prison.—Bull-fights.—State of society in Peru.—The Coca plant, and the latest scientific examination respecting its peculiar properties.—The China, or Peruvian-bark tree.—Departure from Lima.—Lambajeque.—Indian village of Iting.—Païta.—Island of La Plata.—Taboga Island.—Impression made by the intelligence of Humboldt's death.—Panama.—"Opposition" Line.—Immense traffic.—The Railway across the Isthmus.—Aspinwall.—Carthagena.—St. Thomas.—Voyage to Europe on board the R.M.S. Magdalena.—Falmouth.—Southampton.—London.—Rejoin the Novara at sea.—Arrival at Gibraltar.
Five days after the departure of the Novara, I left the roads of Valparaiso on board the mail steamer Callao. The weather
was exceedingly unfavourable, the rain falling in torrents, while a heavy tumbling sea made the embarkation of the numerous passengers and their effects a process anything but agreeable. I have, therefore, the greater pleasure in expressing my gratitude for the courtesy of the Captain of H.M.S. Ganges, who sent his own gig to take me off to the steamer, and to the numerous friends, who despite the stormy weather had assembled on board to bid me a last farewell, and provide me with letters of introduction to the authorities and most influential persons of the more important of the localities I was about to visit. At 2 P.M. the shore bell sounded, a little boat made its appearance on the port side, pitching heavily in the swell, and a long thin figure stepped on deck. This proved to be Captain Stewart of the Louisa, whose acquaintance I had formed at the island of Tahiti, and who now, half breathless, handed me a small packet with the following endorsement,—"These are the extracts you requested from my journal, and which I promised to prepare for you on my first voyage from Norfolk Island to Pitcairn." They consisted in fact of those remarks upon the latest phase of the strange destiny of the Pitcairn Islanders, which have already appeared in a previous chapter. The worthy Captain had kept his word with true John Bull punctuality. A few moments more and the Callao was steaming out of Valparaiso Roads, on her voyage northwards.
Although the boats of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company plying between Valparaiso, Callao de Lima, and Panama,
are tolerably large, clean, and elegantly fitted, yet the number of passengers for intermediate ports make them anything but a comfortable mode of travel. For, notwithstanding the high fares,[120] it is necessary to crowd three or four passengers into each state-room, which in the heat of the tropics is most inconvenient, and at times almost intolerable. Personally, however, I had no reason to complain on this score, as all the captains of the various steamers in which I journeyed north, so soon as my connection with the Novara Expedition was known, at once, with the most marked courtesy and attention, secured to me a state-room for my own exclusive use, and whenever we reached a port, placed their own boats at my disposal during our stay.