On the hills near Lima, at a height but little greater, the ground is carpeted with moss, and beds of beautiful yellow lilies, called Amancaes.

This indicates a very much greater degree of humidity than at a corresponding height at Iquique.

Proceeding northward of Lima, the climate becomes damper, till on the banks of the Guayaquil, nearly under the equator, we find the most luxuriant forests.

The change, however, from the sterile coast of Peru to that fertile land is described as taking place rather abruptly in the latitude of Cape Blanco, two degrees south of Guayaquil.
Callao is a filthy, ill-built, small seaport.

The inhabitants, both here and at Lima, present every imaginable shade of mixture, between European, Negro, and Indian blood.