made to populate the
island, but that object is now given up, and it is only occasionally
visited by sea-dog hunters. Ulloa speaks of the great number of
sea-calves or dogs with which the island was frequented, and
distinguishes kinds which belong to the short-eared species. Their skins
are excellent, and they sell at a good price in England. Wild goats are
numerous, and their propagation would be excessive were it not for the
multitude of dogs, also wild, by which they are destroyed.

There is yet another kind of interest attached to Juan Fernandez. It was
on Mas a Tierra that, in 1704, the celebrated English navigator,
Dampier, landed his coxswain, Alexander Selkirk, with whom he had
quarrelled, and left him there with a small quantity of provisions, and
a few tools. Selkirk had lived four years and four months on this
uninhabited island, when he was found there by the bucaneers Woods and
Rogers, and brought back to Europe. From the notes which he made during
his solitary residence, the celebrated Daniel Defoe composed his
incomparable work, ROBINSON CRUSOE.

The weather continued favorable, and in about a week we doubled the west
point of San Lorenzo Island, where some Chilian cruizers were watching
the coast. We soon entered the fine bay of Callao, and cast anchor in
the harbor of the _Ciudad de los Reyes_. While rounding the island, an
American corvette spoke us. She had left Valparaiso on the same day with
us, and sailed also through the strait between San Lorenzo and the main
land; yet, during the whole passage, we never saw each other.

No signals were exchanged between us and the shore, and no port-captain
came on board. We were exceedingly anxious to know the issue of the
Chilian expedition. Hostile ships of war lay off the port, but the
Peruvian flag waved on the fort. At last a French naval cadet came on
board, and informed us that the Chilians had landed successfully, and
had taken Lima by storm two days previously. They were, at that moment,
besieging the fortress. We immediately went on shore.

The town presented a melancholy aspect. The houses and streets were
deserted. In all Callao we scarcely met a dozen persons, and the most
of those we saw were negroes. Some of the inhabitants came gradually
back, but in the course of a month scarcely a hundred had returned,
and for safety they slept during the night on board merchant ships in
the bay. At the village of Bella Vista, a quarter of a mile from
Cal