256 CORA SHEAR-TAIL HUMMING-BIRD. 



and the white snow looks as if tinged with 

 blood. 



The traveller is obliged to abandon his mule, 

 and creep under the shelter of some rock or cave 

 until the storm is over. 



And here, too, in his journey over this wild part 

 of the country, he comes upon those wonderful 

 bridges that look like mere threads over an abyss. 



The bridge is, in fact, merely a thick strip of 

 hide or undressed leather that is fixed from one 

 side of the torrent to the other. 



A couple more strips are fixed over the chasm, 

 and made to serve as a balustrade ; and on this 

 frail support the traveller has to venture his life, 

 the bridge swaying with an unsteady motion at 

 every step. 



And more dangerous still is another bridge, 

 made of a mere rope stretched from side to side, 

 or bank to bank. A rough kind of chair is 

 fastened to the rope, and in it the traveller seats 

 himself, and is pulled slowly across by another 

 rope attached to the chair, and in the hands of 

 some one on the opposite bank. 



