DANGERS OF TRAVEL. 



81 



"We saw some miserable huts on the road, and met a few asses 

 carrying reeds and poles from Chanchamayo. It seemed a providence 

 that we did not meet these at certain parts of the road, where it is 

 utterly impossible for two beasts to pass abreast, or for one to turn and 

 retreat; and the only remedy is to tumble one off the precipice, or to 

 drag him back by the tail until he reaches a place where the other can 

 pass. Von Tschudi relates an instance of his shooting a mule which 

 met him at one of these places. 



We met with a considerable fright in this way to-day. We were 

 riding in single file along- one of these narrow ascents, where the read is 

 cut out of the mountain side, and the traveller has a perpendicular wall 

 on one hand, and a sheer precipice of many hundreds of feet upon the 

 other. Mr. Gibbon was riding ahead. Just as he was about to turn 

 a sharp bend of the road the head of a bull peered round it, on the 

 descent. When the bull came in full view he stopped, and we could 

 see the heads of other cattle clustering over his quarters, and hear the 

 shouts of the cattle-drivers, far behind, urging on their herd. I 

 happened to be abreast of a slight natural excavation, or hollow, in 

 the mountain side, and dismounting I put my shoulder against my 

 mule's flank and pressed her into this friendly retreat; but I saw no 

 escape for Gibbon, who had passed it. The bull, with lowered crest, 

 and savage, sullen look, came slowly on, and actually got his head 

 between the perpendicular rock and the neck of Gibbon's mule. I felt 

 a thrill of agony, for I thought my companion's fate was sealed. But 

 the sagacious beast on which he was mounted, pressing her haunches 

 hard against the wall, gathered her feet close under her and turned as 

 upon a pivot. This placed the bull on the outside, (there was room to 

 pass, though I did not believe it,) and he rushed by at the gallop, 

 followed in single file by the rest of the herd. I cannot describe the 

 relief I experienced. Gibbon, who is as gallant and fearless as man 

 can be, said, "It is of no use to attempt to disguise the fact— I was 

 badly scared." 



At 2 p. m., we arrived at a place called Matichacra, where there was 

 a single hut, inhabited by a woman and her child ; the husband having 

 gone to Cerro Pasco to exhibit some specimens of gold ore which he 

 had found here. The woman was afflicted with an eruption on her 

 face, which she thought was caused by the metallic character of the 

 earth around, particularly the antimonial. She took a knife, and, 

 digging earth from the floor of her hut, washed it in a gourd, and 

 showed us particles of metal like gold sticking to the bottom. I 

 showed some of this earth to General Otero, who pronounced that 

 6 



