88 USPALLATA PASS. 



the Cordillera, but their danger luis been much ex- 

 aggerated. 1 was told that if I attempted to pass 

 on foot my head would turn giddy, and that there 

 was no rooin to dismount; but I did not see a place 

 where any one might not have walked over back- 

 wards, or got oft' his mule on either side. One of 

 the bad passes, called las Animas (tlie Souls), I 

 had crossed, and did not find out till a day after- 

 wards that it was one of the awful dangers. No 

 doubt there are many parts in which, if the mule 

 should stumble, the rider would be hurled down a 

 great precipice ; but of this there is little chance. 

 I dare say, in the spring, the "laderas," or roads, 

 which each year are formed anew across the piles 

 of fallen detritus, are very bad ; but from what I 

 saw, I suspect the real danger is nothing. With 

 cargo-mules the case is rather different, for the loads 

 project so far that the animals, occasionally running 

 against each other, or against a point of rock, lose 

 their balance, and are thrown down the precipices. 

 In crossing the rivers I can well believe that the 

 difficulty may be very great : at this season there 

 Avas little trouble, but in the summer they must be 

 very hazardous. I can quite imagine, as Sir F. 

 Head describes, the different expressions of those 

 who have passed the gulf, and those who are pass- 

 ing. I never heard of any man being drowned, 

 but with loaded mules it frequently happens. The 

 an-iero tells you to show your mule the best line, 

 and then allow her to cross as she likes : the cargo- 

 mule takes a bad line, and is often lost. 



April ith. — From the Rio de las Vacas to the 

 Puente del Incas, half a day's journey. As there 

 was pasture for the mules, and geology for me, we 

 bivouacked here for the night. When one hears 

 of a natural bridge, one pictures to one's self some 

 deep and narrow ravine, across which a bold mass 



