I was much interested by finding on the terrace, at the height of
eighty-five feet, EMBEDDED amidst the shells and much sea-drifted
rubbish, some bits of cotton thread, plaited rush, and the head of
a stalk of Indian corn: I compared these relics with similar ones
taken out of the Huacas, or old Peruvian tombs, and found them
identical in appearance. On the mainland in front of San Lorenzo,
near Bellavista, there is an extensive and level plain about a
hundred feet high, of which the lower part is formed of alternating
layers of sand and impure clay, together with some gravel, and the
surface, to the depth of from three to six feet, of a reddish loam,
containing a few scattered sea-shells and numerous small fragments
of coarse red earthenware, more abundant at certain spots than at
others. At first I was inclined to believe that this superficial
bed, from its wide extent and smoothness, must have been deposited
beneath the sea; but I afterwards found in one spot that it lay on
an artificial floor of round stones. It seems, therefore, most
probable that at a period when the land stood at a lower level
there was a plain very similar to that now surrounding Callao,
which, being protected by a shingle beach, is raised but very
little above the level of the sea.
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