of Scotland;” – Guasco, a port where the produce of the copper mines is shipped for exportation; – and the harbour of Copiapó, which one of her midshipmen trigonometrically surveyed, and carefully sounded, while Captain Hall, with two of his officers and three passengers, rode into the country, to witness the effects of the great earthquake of April, 1819, and also to visit the silver mines in the mountains near the town. Speaking of the change produced by the revolution in Peru, Captain Hall says:–
“Our stay at Lima, upon tins occasion was short, but very interesting. We arrived on the 9th, and sailed on the 17th of December, 1821. In the interval of four months, which had elapsed since we left Peru, the most remarkable change had taken place in the aspect of affairs. The flag of Spain had been struck on the castle of Callao; and in its place was displayed the standard of Independence. The harbour, which we had left blockaded by an enemy, was now open and free to ail the world; and, instead of containing merely a few dismantled ships of war, and half a dozen empty merchant vessels, was crowded with ships unloading rich cargoes; while the bay, to the distance of a mile from the harbour, was covered with others wailing for room to land their merchandize. On shore all was bustle and activity. The people had no longer leisure for jealousy; and, so far from viewing us with hatred and distrust, hailed us as friends; and, for the first time, we landed at Callao without apprehension of insult.”
On the 13th Dec, Captain Hall went to the palace to breakfast with the Protector of Peru, and to see a curious mummy, or preserved figure, which had been brought the day before from a village to the northward of Lima, and is now in the British Museum, it having been sent to England in the Conway. On the 16th, he witnessed the ceremony of instituting the Peruvian Order of the Sun.
The Conway sailed from Lima, this time, with orders to visit the coast of South America, as far as the isthmus of Panama; thence to proceed along the shores of Mexico, which are washed by the Pacific, to call at the various ports by the way, and then to return to Peru and Chili. Circumstances, however, occurred to prevent the completion of this plan, and to render it necessary for Captain Hall to repass Cape Horn, without again visiting the western coast. His Journal informs us, that he successively touched at Payta, a place celebrated in
