d upon Stephen remarking on the number of people still about.
"The whole town goes to sleep from eleven to four or five, the shops are
all closed, and save on a business of life or death no one would think of
going out. About six the day really begins, and goes on until one in the
morning; then people sleep till five or six, and for a time the streets
are busy; the marketing is done then, the ladies all go to early mass, the
troops do their exercises; by nine the streets begin to thin, and by ten
they are deserted."

Stephen was much struck with the appearance of the town, which had been
laid out with great care, the streets running at right angles to each
other, and being all precisely the same width, dividing the town into
regular blocks. It contained at that time some 70,000 inhabitants. He was
surprised at the want of height in the houses, comparatively few of which
had more than one story. On remarking on this to the muleteer, the latter
said:

"It is because of the earthquakes; nowhere are there such bad earthquakes
as here. If it were not for that Lima would be perfect. The country round
is very fertile, there is an abundance of pure water, the climate is
healthy, and it lies 600 feet above the sea. But the earthquakes are
terrible, there has not been a bad one lately, but it might come at any
time. Every twenty or thirty years there is a very bad one. The worst were
those of 1687 and 1746; the first destroyed every house in Lima, and the
second was almost as bad, but was much worse at Callao. There they not
only had the earthquake but a tumult of waves such as never was before
seen. The sea went right over the town, and almost every soul there, and
at other towns along the coast, perished. There were twenty-three ships in
the harbour at Callao, nineteen of these were sunk and the other four
carried half a mile inland. Since then there has been nothing like that,
but the Indians say that we may expect another before long. I don't know
what they go by, but people say that they predicted the others long before
they came. Have you ever felt an earthquake, senor?"

"No, there was a very slight shock when I was at Valparaiso, but it was
not much more than the rumble a heavy wagon makes in the street, and did
no damage whatever."

"I have never felt a great earthquake," the muleteer said, "but I have
felt little ones. The animals always know when they are coming, and when I
see the mules uneasy and apprehensive, I a