Fénix 10, 203-234

Pisco. 18 April, 1821 My dear Paroissien, 1 hardiy know how to begin or what to say. 1 have been confined so long to rny bed with such a viofent ague and fever, attended by delirious fits, and so lately began to recover, that 1 am, as it were, awoke from a dream, knowing littl'e of what has passed and at a loss to think for the future. Your kind letters have reached me, but 1 really do not recollect either the dates or number of them and until 1 recover a little more strength 1 shall not be enabled to regulate rny papers. This climate is during the present month and one to come beyond al1 description bad. 176 of my division are ill in hospital and their number increases daily. 14 or 15 have died. The climate kills us by inches and eve- ry thing is wretchedness and misery here. The sick, thank God, are to em- bark to day for Huacho, which will decrease my perplexities wonderfully. Oaly think of not having a medical man attached to the division. It is of no use a naval surgeon occasionally stepping in to look at the sick. He must be perman,ently with thern to be service. But enoiigh of this. 1 am sick of the very thoughts of my poor feliows in hospital. The enemy is in Chincha about 300 strong and they say al1 cavalry with three field pieces under the command of Garcia Cambar 26. He does not appear inclined to advance, We have shown ourselves once or twice to his advanced posts in San Jose and they have always scampered off. We have made two prisoners. Their horses are too good and ours too bad (or rather the malditas monturas have ruined them) to follow them up any distance. The result of our expeaition has fallen so short of calculation that 1 am extremely low on the subject. This, added to my illness, to te11 you the real truth, has made me wretched and 1 must confess 1 never felt myself more miserable than at present. Five long and interesting English letters from my brother have rather added to my gloom and melancholy. You see my indis- position has prevented me taking a trip to Ica, as 1 intended, and in fact se- vera1 other little things which woutd in some measure have made amends for our inactivity with the enemy. We have shipped abolit 300 slaves, 1000 loaves of sugar (al1 there is), 500 jars of Pisco, 1000 idem of wine, 6000 d[ollar]s worth of plata labrada which 1 had melted down in bars at Caucato, tobacco, vinegar and a few other articles, and we have consumed nearly 400 head of cattle. The communica- 2 6 . Colonel Andrés García Camba, who has himself left an account o f these operations in his Memorias para la Historia de las Armas Españolas e n e1 Perú ( 2 vols., Ma- drid, 1846). Fénix: Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional del Perú. N.10, 1954