TWO NIGHTS IN SOUTHERN MEXICO. 91 



into a platform, they found themselves in safety 

 under some projecting crags that sheltered them 

 completely from the tempest. Thence they looked 

 down upon the barranca, where they descried Rowley 

 and myself struggling for our lives in the roaring 

 torrent ; and thence, by knotting several lassoes to- 

 gether, they were able to give us .the opportune aid 

 which had rescued us from our desperate situation. 

 But whether this aid had come soon enough to save 

 our lives was still a question, or at least for some 

 time appeared to be so. The life seemed driven out 

 of our bodies by all we had gone through : we were 

 unable to move a finger, and lay helpless and motion- 

 less, with only a glimmering indistinct perception, 

 not amounting to consciousness, of what was going 

 on around us. Fatigue, the fever, the immersion in 

 cold water when reeking with perspiration, the 

 sufferings of all kinds we had endured in the course 

 of the last twenty hours, had completely exhausted 

 and broken us down. 



The storm did not last long in its violence, but 

 swept onwards, leaving a broad track of desolation 

 behind it. The Mexicans recommenced their journey, 

 with the exception of four or five Avho remained 

 with us and our arrieros and servants. The village 

 to which we were proceeding was not above a league 

 off ; but even that short distance Eowley and myself 

 were in no condition to accomplish. The kind- 

 hearted Tzapotecans made us swallow cordials, 



