en over
our quarter. The helm was put up, the mizen-topsail furled, the yards
squared away, and once more we ran before the gale. The wind fell at
night, though the sea ran very high and the ship tumbled about more than
ever.

Not till ten days after this did we enter the bay of Callao, the port of
Lima. We could see in the distance, as the sun sank towards the west,
the tall spires of the city of Lima high up on the hills, while far
above it rose the lofty mountains called the Andes, on the tops of which
snow ever rests. More than a hundred years ago, an earthquake threw
down a great part of Lima, and a large wave rolling in, swept over
Callao and utterly destroyed it. The new town we saw is at a distance
from where the old one stood, and has three castles to defend the bay.
I heard a great deal of the silver mines of Chili and Peru, and the
quantities of silver which used to be sent from them to Spain. Each bar
of silver was, however, gained by the tears and groans, and often the
death, of the poor natives, who were forced by the cruel Spaniards to
toil in those mines. Many hundred thousand Peruvians have died in them
since the Spaniards discovered the country. Spain, I have read, has
never been the better for her ill-gained wealth, and now she does not
own an inch of land in all America.

STORY TWO, CHAPTER 4.

We had now landed all the goods we had brought from England, and found
that we were to sail for Canton, in China, to procure a cargo of tea,
which, it was understood, we were to take to Sydney, in New South Wales,
and there to receive on board a cargo of wool to carry home.

That we might not go empty to Canton, we were to visit some islands,
where seals were to be caught, for the sake of their skins; and also
some others farther west, where we were to collect sandal-wood. We had
no reason to complain of the treatment we received on shore; but, though
the climate is a fine one, and food plentiful, I am thankful that Old
England is my home.

Once more we were steering west, but we went greatly out of our proper
course to look for the island where seals were to be procured. It was
not exactly marked down in the chart, and we were some time looking for
it, having twice passed without seeing it.

About three hundred miles away was another island, where a party of men
had been left by another ship belonging to our owners, to catch seals,
and we had received orders to take all the skins they had