38 



CABBAGE PATCH. 



when the chunks flew in all directions ; the mule became angry, as if 

 it had been abused here before. As soon as he cooled down a little, the 

 bridle was taken off ; a hide rope put over his head and hitched round 

 his nose ; each fore-leg was also fastened by the end of a rope, and three 

 men held the three ropes. The nose-rope was fast pulled until the 

 mule's neck was stretched out ; one foot-rope advanced one leg ; the 

 other foot-rope being then pulled, brought the first foot down, getting 

 one pace ahead ; so they gradually walked him over. Rose had been 

 looking on at the effects of his obstinacy, and gently followed. Two 

 dollars were paid for our two mules and the baggage ; the arriero paid 

 six and a quarter cents apiece for his mules ; this is the custom of the 

 country. The bridge is eighty yards long and six feet wide, distant 

 one hundred and fifty feet above the dark green waters. There are six 

 floor- ropes, crossed by small sticks, lashed with strips of hide to the 

 cables. This platform is hung to two side-cables by small bark ropes. 

 The river flows northwest, with a width of twenty yards. 



The Apurimac empties into the river Santa Ana, and is an import- 

 ant tributary to the Ucayali, after it receives the waters of the Juaja. 

 We are told the Apurimac was the western boundary of the Inca terri- 

 tory during the reign of the first Inca — Manco Capac. The road from 

 this bridge to Banca post-house winds up the mountain. In some 

 places the rock has been cut like stairs. The arrieros help up the mules 

 by pushing against the lower part of the baggage ; we were continually 

 stopping to have the loads fastened on. There are few houses near the 

 post — uninviting in appearance — the people being mostly mestizos. 

 A party of women and men, all intoxicated, seated by the road-side 

 drinking chicha, politely invited us to join them ; some looked very 

 thin and sickly ; an old woman was groaning on her bed at the door ; 

 a boy close by her had some horrible disease breaking out on his face ; 

 he was deformed and looked like a person on the edge of the grave, but 

 amused himself by playing in the dust ; his ghastly stare made us fear 

 he had some infectious disorder. On the other side was a woman shav- 

 ing a boy's head — the shape of a mule's more than that of a human 

 being. An enclosure, containing a patch of cabbages, was found near 

 a stream of cold water, which flowed rapidly from the snow peaks in 

 sight, through an expensive aqueduct, supported on pillars of stone, 

 neatly white-washed, leading to a sugar plantation some distance below 

 us, on the east side of the Apurimac. We encamped here without 

 permission of the owner, who was absent. While our mules were feed- 

 ing and we enjoying our supper, a woman came in, and in a hurried and 

 excited tone of voice, addressed me in Quichua. Our difficulty was 



