"It was an earthquake that moved it," replied Dr. Bronson. "Callao was submerged, with all its inhabitants, in 1746, and when the water is calm you can row over it in a boat, and see the ruins down below you. At half-past ten o'clock one night the sea receded to a great distance, and then rolled back with such violence as to sweep the town and its fortifications out of existence. Five thousand persons perished; nineteen ships were foundered, and four others, including a Spanish man-of-war, were carried far up on the land. Modern Callao had a narrow escape from a similar fate in 1825 and again in 1868, and at any moment it is liable to be engulfed like its predecessor." [Illustration: SHIPS IN A FOG.] The captain of the port came, and then the passengers were at liberty to land. The landing-place is at the side of a mole which protects the harbor on its northern side from the swell of the Pacific. Frank and Fred were surprised to see large piles of grain in the open air, together with other merchandise, but their wonder ceased when they were told that it never rains at Callao, the only moisture being from the mists and fogs already mentioned. The absence of rain renders the place unhealthy, as the drainage is not good, and the heat is great. Frank thought Callao was an excellent rival to Cologne in the way of bad odors, and both the youths were disinclined to make a prolonged stay. The party went immediately to the railway station, followed by porters with their baggage, and in less than half an hour were on their way to Lima, six miles distant. There is nothing worth seeing in Callao, which has a population of some twenty-five or thirty thousand, and is important only from a commercial point of view. The railway skirts the shore for a short distance, then passes through a suburb of the town, and ascends an acclivity of about five hundred feet, which lies between the ocean and the capital city. For nearly the whole distance it is close to the _Camino Real_ or Royal Road, the old route established by the Spaniards to connect Lima with its seaport. The train toiled slowly up the incline, and accomplished the journey in little less than half an hour. This travelling would be considered slow in other countries, but it is satisfactory to the inhabitants, as nobody in Lima ever thinks of hurrying. [Illustration: A GARDEN ON THE RIMAC.] Much of the country between Callao and Lima is under cultivation, by means of irrigating canals brought from the Rimac River. The Rimac dwindles to a small brook in the dry season, but in the period of rains it swells into quite a river, and furnishes more water than is needed. In the absence of rain it is the sole reliance for the gardens and fields around Lima; it is as necessary to this region as is the Nile to Lower Egypt. Without the Rimac, Lima would dry up and disappear; with it the city stands in a surrounding of luxuriant gardens and smiling fields. [Illustration; A CLAIMANT FOR THE SIDEWALK.]