OVERLAND TO LA ESPERANZA 27 



known valleys among the higher mountains of the 

 world. We were all of us traveled men who viewed 

 this panorama, but all agreed that never before 

 had we gazed upon so charming a sight. There 

 are recesses among the Rocky Mountains of 

 Canada into which one gazes with awe and abated 

 breath, where the very silence oppresses, and the 

 beholder instinctively reaches for support to guard 

 against slipping into the awful chasm below. But 

 on the contrary, the Valley of Vifiales seems to 

 soothe and lull the senses. Like the great birds 

 suspended in the sky we longed to soar above it 

 and then alighting within some palm grove far 

 below to rejoice in its atmosphere of perfect peace. 



A swift descent brought us into the little village 

 of pink and blue houses fronted with rows of 

 columns, and to the inn where our host, of good 

 memory, greeted us with a cordiality that made us 

 feel like wanderers returned home. 



The little inn at Vifiales is so very old Spanish 

 that we liked to fancy Don Quixote and the faith- 

 ful Sancho Panza entering at any moment through 

 its big open door. Mounted upon Rosinante and 

 the donkey had they passed quite through the 

 dining-room to the courtyard beyond, we should 



