Routes across the Continent. 325 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



How to Travel in South America. — Routes. — Expenses. — Outfit. — Precau- 

 tions. — Dangers. 



The most vague and incorrect notions prevail in respect 

 to traveling in South America. The sources of trustwor- 

 thy and desirable information are very meagre. Murray 

 has not yet published a " Hand-book for the Andes ;" 

 routes, methods, and expenses of travel are almost un- 

 known ; and the imagination depicts vampires and scor- 

 pions, tigers and anacondas, wild Indians and fevers with- 

 out end, impassable rivers and inaccessible mountains as 

 the portion of the tourist. The following' statements, which 

 can be depended upon, may therefore be acceptable to 

 those who contemplate a trip on the Andes and the Ama- 

 zon. 



The shortest, cheapest, most feasible, and least interest- 

 ing route across the continent is from Valparaiso to Bue- 

 nos Ayres. The breadth of South America is here only 

 eight hundred miles. By railroad from Valparaiso to the 

 foot of the Andes ; thence a short mule-ride by the Uspal- 

 lata Pass (altitude 12,000 feet), under the shadow of Acon- 

 cagua to Mendoza ; thence by coach across the pampas to 

 the Rio Plata. The Portillo Pass (traversed by Darwin) 

 is nearer, but more lofty and dangerous. 



Bolivia offers the difficult path of Gibbon : From the 

 coast to Cochabamba ; thence down the Mamore and Ma- 

 deira. There are three routes through Peru : First, from 

 Lima to Mayro, by way of Cerro Pasco and Huanaco, by 

 mule, ten days ; thence down the Pachitea, by canoe, six 



