62 



REFLECTIONS. 



respiration, and cold extremities. The smell of garlic is said to alleviate 

 the symptoms ; and the arrieros generally anoint their cattle over the 

 eyes, and on the forehead, with an unguent made of tallow, garlic, and 

 wild marjoram, as a preventive, before attempting the ascent. I did 

 not observe that our animals were affected, though they trembled and 

 breathed hard, which, I think, was attributable to the steepness of the 

 hill up which we rode. The barometer stood at 16,730, indicating 

 an elevation of sixteen thousand and forty-four feet. Water boiled at 

 182°.5 ; temperature of the air, 43°. 



The road hence is cut along the flank of the mountain, at whose base 

 lies a pretty little lake. The hacienda of morococha is situated on the 

 banks of a second, which communicates with it; and this again pours its 

 waters, by a small and gentle stream, into a third, below. These are, 

 respectively, Huacracocha, or Horn lake; Morococha, or Painted lake, 

 from the variety of colors which its placid surface reflects from the red, 

 green, and yellow of the surrounding mountains ; and Huascacocha, or 

 Rope lake. 



Though not yet sixty miles from the sea, we had crossed the great 

 "divide" which separates the waters of the Atlantic from those of the 

 Pacific. The last steps of our mules had made a striking change in our 

 geographical relations; so suddenly and so quickly had we been cut off 

 from all connexion with the Pacific, and placed upon waters that 

 rippled and sparkled joyously as they danced by our feet to join the 

 glad waves of the ocean that wash the shores of our own dear land. 

 They whispered to me of home, and my heart went along with them. 

 I thought of Maury, with his researches concerning the currents of the 

 sea ; and, recollecting the close physical connexion pointed out by him 

 as existing between these — the waters of the Amazon and those of our 

 own majestic Mississippi — I musingly dropped a bit of green moss, 

 plucked from the hill-side, upon the bosom of the placid lake of Moro- 

 cocha, and as it floated along I followed it, in imagination, down through 

 the luxurious climes, the beautiful skies, and enchanting scenery of the 

 tropics, to the mouth of the great river; thence across the Carribbean 

 sea, through the Yucatan pass, into the Gulf of Mexico ; thence along 

 the Gulf-stream ; and so out upon the ocean, off the shores of the "Land 

 of Flowers." Here I fancied it might meet with the silent little messen- 

 gers cast by the hands of sympathizing friends and countrymen high 

 upon the head- waters of the Mississippi, or away in the "Far West," 

 upon the distant fountains of the Missouri. 



It was, indeed, but a bit of moss floating on the water; but as I 

 mused, fancy, awakened and stimulated by surrounding circumstances, 



