Callao is now visited annually by five hundred steamers and more than a thousand sailing vessels besides the smaller craft engaged in the coasting trade. Every day in the year, one may count twenty or more steamers and twice as many sailing ships anchored in the harbor. [Illustration: PIER OF THE ARSENAL, CALLAO.] [Illustration: PASSENGERS LANDING AT ETEN FROM A STEAMER OF THE PACIFIC LINE.] The most important steamship companies of the world are represented in the lines which include the port of Callao in their itinerary. The first company to send steamers to the Pacific Coast was organized largely through the initiative of shippers in this port. The Pacific Steam Navigation Company, incorporated in England by Royal Charter in 1840, began its service on the Pacific Coast under the usual difficulties attending pioneer efforts. The working of the line was impeded by innumerable drawbacks. At first it was a purely coastal service and the mails, passengers and through traffic had to be conveyed across the isthmus of Panamá on mules. Then the Panamá railroad was built and the traffic was fostered; but the rates across the isthmus were very high and the difficulties that attended the despatching of through traffic were so discouraging that the Pacific Company instituted a line of steamers between Liverpool and Valparaiso _via_ the Straits of Magellan, to connect with the coast service plying between that port and Panamá. Later, the line from Liverpool was extended to Callao, and for many years this port was the headquarters of the company, until, in 1896, owing to a falling off in trade after the decline of the guano industry, the chief offices were transferred to Valparaiso. Of late years, however, the company has greatly increased its fleet, and a special line of passenger and cargo boats has been put on for service to Peruvian ports. From a small commencement with two wooden paddle steamers of seven hundred tons’ register, as described by Mr. Frederick Alcock in his book _Trade and Travel in South America_, the fleet has grown until its register now approximates two hundred thousand tons. Its new steamer, the _Orcoma_, has a tonnage of eleven thousand five hundred, and the _Orita_ registers nine thousand two hundred and sixty-five tons; in addition to these handsome floating palaces, the fleet numbers eighteen twin-screw steamers of lesser tonnage, all of modern construction and commodious service. Of these, the _Oriana_, _Ortega_, and _Oronsa_, are the largest and most noted for comfort and elegance. At Chucuito, near Callao, where the company owns a large property, the stores and works are being enlarged and improved. The Pacific steamers connect with those of the Royal Mail both at Panamá and Buenos Aires, the latter having no line on the west coast of America, though its magnificent fleet ploughs all the seas, from Southampton to Panamá, to Brazil and Argentina, to the Mediterranean, Suez Canal and India, and,