of the Pass, and then, after a change from five or six to 

 one horse or mule, the descent began. This was pro- 

 ceeded with, with great rapidity, at a long swinging 

 trot, occasionally brought up by snowdrifts. Snow here 

 averaged i^ to i feet depth, and nothing else visible 

 except forms of pine trees, and here and there a per- 

 pendicular face of rock. Just after the descent began 

 the moon rose, and then the scenery was most magnifi- 

 cent, especially after passing a platform of considerable 

 height and extent. To describe it is impossible, at 

 times rushing down the steep slopes and twirling round 

 the angles of the zigzag road, with the brightness of 

 day, but weird-like in the moonlight j now with a per- 

 pendicular wall of rock on one side, and a precipice of 

 perhaps 1,000 feet on the other ; the effect was almost 

 awful. Once, owing to an extensive snowdrift, our 

 sledge (the first of the six), to avoid it, went with un- 

 diminished speed for near 100 yards within six inches 

 of the edge of a precipice of several hundred feet, and 

 at last the depth of the snow even here brought it to a 

 standstill, the mule making irregular bounds forward 

 at the shouts of the driver and lash and crack of the 

 whip each bound seeming to bring it nearer and 

 nearer to the edge; at last a frantic plunge, and we 

 were off again, scudding down in this apparently ticklish 

 position for a considerable distance farther, at the rate 

 of at least twelve miles an hour, until, the drift lessen- 

 ing, we again took up a more comfortable-/00^/Vzg- 



