SANTA LUCIA TO AZUCAR 75 



stretches they adopt a fast walking gait or fox 

 trot. Such a horse is a treasure but is not often 

 for hire. The usual hired pony has a decided 

 disinclination to accelerate his pace above a slow 

 walk, hence the guide, upon his own good horse, 

 gets far ahead, while we, in constant desire to 

 catch up, must beseech and belabor our mounts. 

 When we do manage to increase speed for a few 

 brief moments, the result is a fearful shaking up. 

 In steep and slippery places poor horses exhaust 

 their riders more than themselves. We fully 

 appreciated Mr. Morse's courtesy in securing for 

 us the right kind of animals. 



After luncheon we enjoyed an illuminating chat 

 with our host when he gave us the benefit of his 

 observations upon the geology of the region and the 

 occurrence of ore beds in the neighborhood. His 

 conclusions concerning the geological history of 

 the mountains and the relation of their limestones 

 to the flanking sandstone and shales did not fully 

 coincide with our own somewhat hazy ideas, but 

 we had to confess that our opinions on the subject 

 were by no means fixed. 



In a driving rain we set forth with our guide 

 Alvarez leading the way up the steep Loma de 



