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ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by

LEAVITT, TROW, & CO.

In the Clerk's office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-York.

HON. JOHN Y. MASON,

SIR:

SECRETARY OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY.

THE NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES has always been regarded by the American people with a feeling of kindness and a desire to give to it a liberal support. It is this generous confidence of the nation which secures an elevated tone to the character of the naval officer, and gives to him a spirit of daring when called on for action, which renders him equal to any emergency connected with his profession. Success, as a consequence in the course of his duty, becomes almost a matter of course. The approbation of his Government and his own individual fame constitute the controlling motives of his action; and in meeting the responsibilities of his profession, his triumph or defeat becomes the standard by which his honor or disgrace is to be measured. It has been within my own opportunity, for a few years past, to note the spirit which prevails among our naval officers. And I am sure, that whatever may be their ties of earth in their social relations (and their attachments are as ardent as are those of any other class of men), they yet would regard at any moment, an opportunity to peril their lives in the accomplishment of an achievement which should accord glory to their country and individual fame to themselves, as an acceptable occurrence, and one they would gladly welcome and anxiously court. Let, then, the Government continue to this

arm of its defence the support and the confidence, which heretofore it has liberally accorded, and I believe the people of these United States will never be disappointed by its individual or collected action, whenever it is called on to achieve deeds of arms, or to further by its protection the legitimate objects of an international commerce. At the head of such a Navy, it is your honor, sir, officially, to stand. And while I tender you THIS VOLUME, I am happy to know, that there is not only a high respect but also a positive feeling of personal kindness cherished towards you by the officers of the Navy. To this, allow me here to add the assurances of my own respectful consideration and esteem.

New-York, October, 22d, 1847.

FITCH W. TAYLOR.

CONTENTS.

Complimentary boats from the British, French, and Spanish men-of war.
-Anecdote.-The Cumberland becomes the FLAG SHIP of the Home
Squadron.-Ships at rest.-Action of the Mexican government await-
ed. For a moment, adieu to the Cumberland.-Sketches in Chili.—

Santiago. Improvement, as involving change, not an element of the

Roman Catholic church.-Cathedral.—Chilénas at worship.-Altars.—

Relics of Franciscus Xaverius or Francis Xavier.-Portrait of St. Je-

rome. An altar to the sacred family.-Relics of Santa Feliciana en-

closed in a glass case.-'
-The central or great altar of the cathedral at

Santiago. Beautiful canopy attached to the altar.-Its phantasmagoria

effect at the elevation of the Host and celebration of high mass.-The

mother and her daughter, beautiful resemblances.-Absence of pews in

Catholic churches abroad, and equality of the worshippers.-Church

dress. An abstraction.-Religious sympathies.-Some faces poetic.—

Roman Catholic institutions the same every where, in Santiago and in

Mexico.-Drive from Santiago to Valparaiso.-Cuésta del Padro.—

Midway Fonda.-The Author not a Franciscan.-Catholic priests,

abroad, generally marked by the tonsure, or small shaven spot on the

crown of the head.-The frigate Columbia and her consort, the John

Adams, in the harbor of Valparaiso.-A view of the bay-still-calm—

men-of-war of different nations-location of the Essex, when, under

command of Commodore Porter, she fought two British ships-French

bugles playing for the Chilénas, while they are bathing. The fri-

gate Columbia getting under way.—Many eyes from other ships mark-

ing her evolutions.-Those evolutions described.-The frigate, with

her sails set, like the flight of a water-fowl, takes her course out of the

harbor, and is lost in the distance at sea,

56

PERU.-Callao. The past and the present.-The Castle of Callao.--Pe-
ruvians and South Americans dull scholars in the republican school.—
Thrilling associations in the past, as connected with the Castle and the
town.-Earthquake of 1746.-Starvation in the Castle under Rodel.——
The Marquis of Truxillo and family.--A time when $30,000 was of
less value than a single chicken.-Cathedral arches, sunken by earth-
quakes, become vaults for the dead, by famine, war, and revolution.-
Skulls and bones in heaps, and bleaching in the sun.-Island of San
Lorenzo once a part of the main land.-Earthquake of 1640 —A
Spanish man-of-war thrown high up on the Lima road.-A navy
foundered. A city sunk, and vessels driven over the submerged dwell-
ings by the inroll of the sea.-LIMA.--Salteadores.-Alameda de la
Portada. The Carnival.-Charity, personified by a priest, trying her

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