308 SPORT, TRAVEL, AND ADVENTURE 



my road. At a turn of the canon I looked around. 

 The bull was now standing in front of the cave, as 

 if in possession of his domicile again, and he watched 

 me steadfastly until the landscape shut him out .from 

 view. 



For hours I pursued my way, and the moon ran 

 her course, and the sun arose over the eternal Andean 

 summits to the east before I discerned, far, far below, 

 the plain at whose farther side I believed my tent was 

 pitched. I was intensely thirsty, rendered so by the 

 keen air, and was now parched by the heat of the 

 sun. Not a stream crossed the tortuous way by which 

 I descended a way fit rather for vicunas or llamas 

 than men, for, indeed, I simply zigzagged down the 

 slopes as best I could, hoping to find some torrent- 

 bed which should form a path. And yet these ravines 

 are at times exceedingly difficult to descend. You are 

 sometimes lured on by what seems an easy and favour- 

 able path, when suddenly you are brought to the verge 

 of a frightful precipice, down which the stream leaps 

 in time of rain, but which affords you no passage, and 

 you may have to ascend again for many weary paces 

 and find another way. How thirsty I was with the 

 fatiguing advance ! 



I had now reached the lower slopes of the hills, 

 but so far had not crossed any stream or rivulet where 

 I could drink ; for this western slope of the Andes, 

 the coast range, is an almost rainless region, and wat< 

 is scarce. The zenith sun now beat down mercilessb 

 and the rocks gave forth a reflected heat. Natui 

 cried out for moisture, as had, perchance, many 

 thirsty being on this inhospitable plain, where no Mos< 

 with impatient divining-wand appeared to strike tl 



