Crossing the Cosanga. 189 



current, lie mingled with huge stones brought down by the 

 force of the water. In many places the crowns of stately 

 monarchs standing on the bank interlock and form a sylvan 

 arch over the river. 



We left Baeza by the southerly trail for Archidona. 

 From Papallacta we had traveled east, or parallel to the 

 streams which flow down from the mountains. We were 

 now to cross them (and their name is legion), as also the in- 

 tervening ridges ; so that our previous journey was noth- 

 ing to that which followed. Sometimes we were climbing 

 up an almost vertical ascent, then descending into a deep, 

 dark ravine, to ford a furious river ; while on the lowlands 

 the path seemed lost in a jungle of bamboos, till our Indian 

 " bushwhackers" opened a passage with their machetas, and 

 we crept under a low arcade of foliage. This day we en- 

 joyed something unusual in our forest trail — a distant view. 

 The path brought us to the verge of a mountain, whence 

 we could look down on the savage valley of the Cosanga 

 and upward to the dazzling dome of Antisana ; it was our 

 farewell view of that glorious volcano. At the distance of 

 twelve miles from Baeza we reached the banks of the Rio 

 Cosanga, camping at a spot called Chiniplaya. This is the 

 river so much dreaded by Indians and whites traversing 

 the Kapo wilderness. It is fearfully rapid — a very Tigris 

 from its source to its junction with the Coca. The large, 

 smooth boulders stre^vn along its bed show its power. 

 Here, sixty miles from its origin in the glaciers of Antisana, 

 it is seventy-five feet wide, but in the wet season it is one 

 hundred yards. The day following we threaded our diffi- 

 cult way, a via dolorosa^ fifteen miles up the left bank of 

 the Cosanga, where we crossed and camped on the oppo- 

 site side. The Indians had thrown a log over the deepest 

 part of the river, and the rest we forded without much dan- 

 ger ; but that very night the rain raised the river to such 



