69 



tion is sufficient to throw down the carrier, and 

 his fall would be so much the more dangerous, 

 as the carguero, too confident in his skill, 

 chooses the. most rapid declivities, or crosses^, 

 torrent on a narrow and slippery trunk of a tree. 

 These accidents are however rare, and those 

 which happen must be attributed to the impru- 

 dence of travellers, who, frightened at a false 

 step of the carguero, leap down from their 

 chairs. 



The fifth plate represents a very picturesque 

 view, seen at the entrance of the mountain of 

 Quindiu, near Ibague, at a post called the foot 

 of the Cuesta. The truncated cone of Toliina, 

 covered with perpetual snow, and reminding us 

 by its form of Cotopaxi and Cayambe, appears 

 above the mass of granitic rocks. The small 

 river of Combeima, which mingles its waters 

 with those of Rio Cuello, winds in a narrow 

 valley, and forces its way across a thicket of 

 palm trees. A part of the town of Ibague, the 

 great valley of the river Magdalena, and the 

 eastern chain of the Andes, are seen in the 

 back ground. In the fore ground is a band of 

 cargueroes coming up the mountain, representing 

 the mode of fastening on the shoulders the chair 

 made of bamboo wood, which is steadied by a 

 headstall similar to that worn by horses and 

 oxen. The roll in the hand of the third car 

 guero is the roof, or rather movable house, 



