blowing such a hole in the side of the ship that she sank in 3 minutes; 115 persons perished, including the captain; 15 men escaped in one of the boats, and 50 who climbed into the rigging were saved by Peruvian boats from the shore. It is supposed that the air-boxes Contained dynamite, which was fired by the pull on the tackles, but the character of the mechanism is not known.
In October, 1880, mediation between the contending countries was undertaken by the United States of America, but was unsuccessful. A conference was held on board the U. S. corvette Lackawanna, in the harbor of Arica, Peru, Bolivia, and Chili each sending a commissioner, while the representatives of the United States for the respective countries were present.
Immediately after the unsuccessful issue of the conference, Chili despatched an expeditionary force of 30,000 men for the conquest of Peru, its operations being intended to capture the capital. The exact strength of the army was 1,202 officers and 24,956 men, of all arms, with 103 cannon, 77 mountain pieces, 8 Gatlings, and 3 Nordenfeldt's. It was in three divisions and a reserve. One division landed at Pisco and marched overland, 107 miles, to Curayaco and Chilca, where the rest of the expeditionary force was put on shore. Chilca is only 25 miles from Lima and about 10 from the rich valley of Lurin, one of the garden spots of Peru. To oppose this army of well-equipped invaders the Peruvians, had four divisions of a nominal aggregate strength of 20,000. Less than 3,000 were worthy of consideration as veterans. The greater part of the army of the defence was composed of raw and badly armed troops, procured by the levy en masse of all males in Lima between the ages of sixteen and sixty and capable of bearing arms. The artillery was numerically about equal to that of the Chilians, but vastly inferior in range and effectiveness.
General Pierola, dictator and commander-in-chief of the
