76 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ 



top, the last mile of wliich is very steep, and the 

 road being on this especial occasion very slippery from 

 the fact that the last two days have been very rainy. 

 It is in vain to try to describe a wide view, but 

 certainly very few can combine so many elements 

 of beauty, — the enormous land-locked harbor all 

 hemmed in by mountains with its gateway open to the 

 sea, the broad ocean beyond, the many islands, the 

 nearer peaks with the fleecy afternoon clouds floating 

 about them and a gleam of sunshine over them from 

 time to time. It was most lovely, and the view not 

 so distant that things lost their individuality. Well, 

 my dear, it faintly dawned upon my mind occasion- 

 ally that we had to get down from this peak, but I did 

 not allow my thoughts to rest upon it for an instant. 

 The awful moment came, however, like the dentist's 

 and all other inevitable facts, and then I found that 

 all the rest of the party intended, with the exception 

 of Mr. Billings and Captain Coster, to walk down the 

 steepest part of the slippery road and take their 

 horses at a lower station. But I said to myself, "I 

 shall never have such a chance to learn again as now 

 when I have Mr. Billings to teach me, and if I 'm 

 going to baulk at the first dangerous bit of riding, 

 how shall I get on when there are nobody knows how 

 many miles of muleback before me.^^" So, as if it were 

 quite my habit to mount horses on the tops of high 

 mountains and slide down to the bottom, I announced 

 my intention of descending as I had come, whatever 

 other members of the party might do. You must 

 remember that all the time I had Mr. Billings to 



