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Show Residence of the Archbishop of Peru in Lima. (Prepared by tlie National Geographic Society, Yu3hinK tun. D. Ci LIMA, capital of Peru, scene of a recent governmental change, Is a modern city, but it has not lost its reminders of tlie historic-past historic-past and of Piznrro, the conqueror, who founded it. On one side of the Plaza stands the stern old national palace, its lines as uncompromising and as firm as were the deeds and purposes of the man of blood and iron who planned It. As one faces tlie palace, the cathedral cathe-dral and the archbishop's residence occupy tlie right side of tlie Plaza and the Arcade of the Scribes the left. What stories of men of action In the joys of triumph and the sorrows of defeat, In the exultation of pomp and the dejections of disgrace, center there! Faith and treachery, honor and duplicity, courage and cowardice, applause and hatred all the contrasting contrast-ing characteristics of human nature, all the quirks and turn of life's fortunes, for-tunes, run through the theme of Lima's life ns tlie woof runs through the warp of a tapestry and give it both color and pattern. To the site of Lima, 395 years ago, came Francisco Pizarro, he who had been a foundling upon tlie steps of a church in the Spanish city of Trujiilo, then a humble hog herder In Estrema-dura, Estrema-dura, and Inter an illiterate adventurer at Panama. But finally he was the grim leader who deflected the course of history at Gallo, the triumphant conqueror who mastered the Inca warrior war-rior host at Cajamarca, the modern Midas who made his ancient prototype turn over In an envious grave. And he was laden with the bloodstained blood-stained treasure which Atahualpa paid for the freedom never received. : Treasure Amassed by Pizarro. Gold! What uncounted gold he brought down to finance the building of his new capital ! Had not the Inca monarch so desperately desired his liberty that he undertook to fill a room 22 by 17 feet with it, as high as he could reach? And had not Piznrro, smiling grimly, chalked his tiptoe reach at nine feet? And silver! Yes, the Inca had been so eager to meet the highest dream of Pizarro's avarice that he offered two roomfuls of the white metal for good measure. Pizarro, indeed, had exacted the greatest king's ransom in history. It was so much that even the humblest cavalier received $105,000 (in terms of American money) for his share in the exploits of Cajamarca, so time-dimmed records tell us. Cuzeo then, even as now, was no place for a capital of a country that needed contact with tlie sea. It is far up in the bleak and frigid puna region, with an altitude of more than two miles and with mightiest ramparts ram-parts of the Andes Isolating it from the ocean. So to the site of Lima Pizarro came to build his capital. The one-time swineherd had lived to be the first great city planner of the antipodes. Nor have four centuries sufficed to reveal re-veal a better site than he selected for the capital of Peru. San Lorenzo thrusts its island heights boldly out of the sen, shutting out tlie long Pacific rollers and making a good harbor hard by, on a coast peculiarly pecul-iarly lacking in safe havens for ships. San Cristobal ns boldly rears its great head out of the plain and makes a magnificent sentinel for the city that nestles beneath its shadows. The alluvial al-luvial valley round about drinks in the water of tlie Rimac and flows with the milk and honey of truck and market garden products. Though midway between the froplc of Capricorn and the equator, the climate has few of the attributes of the Torrid Zone; for the cold brought up out of the Antarctic regions and delivered there by the great Hum-bodlt Hum-bodlt current tempers tlie heat of coastal Peru in the same way that the heat brought out of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico by the Gulf stream tempers the cold breath of Great Britain Brit-ain and Ireland. So the mighty curtain of the Cordilleras Cordil-leras shuts out the hot, humid rains of the region beyond, while the mountain moun-tain ramparts and the cold current join forces to form vaporous clouds that screen the city from a too-arCjnt sun. City of the Kings Founded. Epiphany Sunday in the year 1535 dawned, and amid -the reverent rejoicings re-joicings of that sacred day Pizarro announced the site and christened his capital-to-be Ciudad de los Reyes, City of the Kings, Ihe reference being to the three Wise Men of the East, a suggestion that still finds perpetuation in the flag of Lima. I'lzzaro, tlie one-time foundling, showed that he could build a city as well as choose wisely its location. He began his pulace, selected a site for the cathedral, laid out the Plaza de Armas, and indicated broad highways to the mountains and the sea alike ns a military precaution. His grizzled warriors laid aside powder pow-der and Toledo blade, helmet and breastplate, to take up hammer, saw, and trowel. The Conqueror literally poured his wealth into the embellishment embellish-ment of Ills young capital, his joy and his pride; and "with splendor of edifices edi-fices and pomp of gardens" it marched forward toward completion, drenched with the sweat and blood of thousands of Indian captives. As we sit in the Plaza an'd watch the Sunday morning worshipers leaving leav-ing tlie cathedral, memory harks back to that other Sunday in 1541 when the implacable Rada and his devoted band swept across it to make Pizzaro pay a dramatic price for his perfidy toward Alniagro, and to press to his lips the bitter cup of death which he had so remorselessly forced both Almagro and Atahaulpa to drink to its utmost ut-most dregs. We leave the Plaza and go Into the cathedral. It is a magnificent structure, struc-ture, much larger than Pizarro built, but still not so grand as the one erected during the early years of the viceregal regime and destroyed by the great earthquake that wiped out Cal-lao, Cal-lao, the near-by seaport. The high nltar Is of massive silver contruction, containing, It is asserted, some of the very white metal with which Atahualpa vainly sought to buy his liberty. In the Chapel of the Virgin is a celebrated Image presented by Emperor Charles V of Spain, and in the Chapel Arcedlano an original painting attributed to Murillo, representing repre-senting Jesus and Veronica. Here rests a glass-and-marble ca-ket ca-ket which Is most interesting of all, for it contains the half-mummy, half-skeleton half-skeleton reputed to be the remains of the great Conqueror. Ancient and Modern Mingled. Leaving the cathedral, we stroll out along the splendid concrete boulevard that leads up from' Magdalena. Pre-Inca Pre-Inca ruins, busy cigarette factories, and fine modern residences share its borders. Perhaps it was along this very highway high-way that the first viceroy, Blasco Nunez, made his triumphal entry, sent by his king to compose the Internecine struggle that followed the fall of Pizarro. Everywhere one goes about old Lima there are scenes reminiscent of those tremendous years of the regime of the Pizarros; but, except for the casket In the cathedral, the city seems not to have done either the elder Francisco or the younger Gonzalo the slightest honor What a contrast there Is between Lima's latest thirteen years and that stirring first thirteen! A new era has dawned, and a modern city not only Is rising around the old Lima, hut even the old city itself, with all of Its nearly near-ly four centuries of existence, Is combining com-bining successfully the ancient and the modern. The keynote of the new development develop-ment is the fine new avenue leading from the old city to the suburbs. Until Un-til a few weeks ago It was named "Avenida Leguia," for the man has held the presidency for more than a decade. Since Legula's deposition, however, the boulevard has been renamed re-named "Avenida Arequipa." Along the Main Avenue. The traveler might compare it with one of those beautiful boulevards that extend from Washington to Its neighboring neigh-boring communities. It has certain parking throughout much of Its length, ample walks, Innumerable park benches, and a lighting system that Is the last word In illumination engineering. engi-neering. As one drives down this delightful thoroughfare, over to the right Is the Country club, a magnificent structure with environing golf links, polo fields, tennis courts, and swimming pool-like pool-like a bit of Westchester county dropped down In Peru. And what a site for the outdoor life of the elite of the capital It Is! Away to the south rises Morro Solar, cross-and-chapel-crowned. mounting perpetual per-petual gnard over the Brighton of the west coast, Chorrillns. Beyond stands the hold series of ridges that borders the fertile valley of the I.urin. To the west the broad Pacific dashes Us white-crowned rollers upon thn level beach and San Lorenzo adds a glorious figure to the marine view. To the east the rocky billows of the mighty Cordilleras rise, each successive succes-sive crest above its predecessor, until i't iast. in the blue of the distance and ! ,he azure of the sky, earth and air i seem to melt into one. |
