62 PORTILLO PASS. 



made the common salute of the countiy by taking 

 off their hats. Where woukl one of the lower or 

 higher classes in Europe have shown such feeling 

 politeness to a poor and miserable object of a de- 

 graded race ? 



At night we slept at a cottage. Our manner of 

 travelling was delightfully independent. In the 

 inhabited parts we bought a little firewood, hired 

 pasture for the animals, and bivouacked in the cor- 

 ner of the same field with them. Carrying an iron 

 pot, we cooked and ate our supper under a cloud- 

 less sky, and knew no trouble. My companions 

 were Mariano Gonzales, who had formerly accom- 

 panied me in Chile, and an " arriero," with his ten 

 mules and a "madrina." The madrina (or god- 

 mother) is a most important personage : she is an 

 old steady mare, with a little bell round her neck ; 

 and wherever she goes, the mules, like good chil- 

 dren, follow her. The affection of these animals 

 for their madrinas saves infinite trouble. If several 

 large troops are turned into one field to graze, in 

 the morning the muleteers have only to lead the 

 madrinas a little apart, and tinkle their bells ; and 

 although there may be two or three hundred to- 

 gether, each mule immediately knows the bell of 

 its own madrina, and comes to her. It is nearly 

 impossible to lose an old mule ; for if detained for 

 several hours by force, she will, by the power of 

 smell, like a dog, track out her companions, or 

 rather the madrina, for, according to the muleteer, 

 she is the chief object of affection. The feeling, 

 however, is not of an individual nature, for I be- 

 lieve I am right in saying that any animal with a 

 bell will serve as a madrina. In a troop, each ani- 

 mal carries, on a level road, a cargo weighing 416 

 pounds (more than 29 stone), but in a mountainous 

 country 100 pounds less ; yet with what delicate 



