OVER TRAIL AND THROUGH JUNGLE IN ECUADOR 



351 



ence whether up or down — and so the 

 traveler soon learns to look ahead and 

 forecast where his route will lie. He 

 may be certain, beyond all peradventure 

 of a doubt, that it will cross the highest 

 ridge in his horizon. 



Because of the steep slopes of the 

 mountains, there are only two possible 

 places for a trail, as a general rule — one 

 up the valley of some stream, the other 

 along the crest of the mountain range. 



THE TRAVELER HUMORS HIS MULE ON THE 

 HIGH TRAILS 



It is not always easy to say which 

 practice is most to the liking of the way- 

 farer. From Santa Rosa in to the mines 

 at Portovelo, we crossed the Rio Santa 

 Rosa twenty-two times in one half day, 

 when the trail followed up the canon ; 

 while on another jaunt, north along the 

 interandean region, where the trails keep 

 to the ridge crests, we frequently climbed 

 laboriously up to 12,000 feet only to find 

 a deep river gorge ahead, which meant a 

 descent to 7,000 feet and the climb all to 

 do over again. 



■The traveler can ride mule-back over 

 most of these trails, although occasionally 

 a short stretch may be encountered where 

 it is politic to walk. The trails frequently 

 ascend and descend in the steepest of 

 pitches and often run for long distances 

 along the edges of precipitous slopes, 

 where a misstep means a fall of two or 

 three hundred feet before even the first 

 bounce and perhaps a thousand to the 

 very bottom. In such places it is best to 

 humor the mule. 



Disagreeable stretches of a different 

 nature are found where the rains soften 

 the surface of the trail, and the feet of 

 the mules cut it up into a succession of 

 ridges and furrows, known locally as 

 camelloncs. The animals go sloshing over 

 these camellones, stepping high over the 

 ridges and slopping down into the fur- 

 rows, which are often knee- or belly- 

 deep. 



FEW LLAMA TO BE SEEN IN ECUADOR 



It is over such trails as these that all 

 the commerce of interior Ecuador is car- 

 ried, and the Ecuadorean has come to be 

 very expert as an arricro, or driver of 

 mule trains. 







BUT NO ONE EXTOLS THIS KITTEN S 

 DISPOSITION 



The cougar, or puma, is not rare in Ecuador,, 

 and in some regions is apt to prove destructive 

 to domestic stock. The governor of the Prov- 

 ince of Loja had this kitten as a pet, and even 

 at such a tender age it is possible to note the 

 parentage in the lines of the head and the 

 large paws. 



The mule is the prime favorite as a 

 pack animal, although some horses are 

 used and numbers of donkeys may be 

 seen. About Riobamba a few llamas were 

 seen ; but this animal is almost a curiosity 

 in Ecuador and is not the common animal 

 that it is in Peru. 



The mule can carry one hundred pounds 

 on a side, a total of two hundred pounds 

 to the animal, or, on good trails, up to 

 three hundred pounds, and, if an arriero 

 is clever, it is possible to take some 

 amazing cargoes in over the trail. I have 

 seen steel cable going in to the mine when 

 it took fourteen mules to carry one sec- 

 tion. Each mule had a few coils on its 

 back, and then the cable ran back to the 

 next animal, and so on down the line. 



ONCE A PART OP THE GREAT INCA EMPIRE 



Pianos have been taken over the An- 

 dean trails where it required one hundred 

 peons a month to bring such a cumber- 

 some burden to its destination. 



