OSUHUAMA. 



45 



acquaintance who left the rancho at dawn to join in a 

 tiger hunt in a distant part of the country 3 we continued 

 our journey to the southward. 



Our route led us down into the dell below La Messa, 

 and over the hillside opposite, till we entered a broad, 

 green glade, stretching through the forest for some miles 

 to the foot of the eminences upon which the large Indian 

 village of Osuhuama is situated. We were quite unpre- 

 pared for the vast panoramic view which unrolled itself 

 to our view from the summit of a high conical mound, 

 perched on the very edge of the declivity, with which 

 this, the first step as it were of the higher country, breaks 

 down to the general level of the country in the vicinity 

 of the coasts. 



The village, with its picturesque huts and enclosures 

 of bamboo, and little patches of cultivation, lies scat- 

 tered over the ridges of a number of broken hills. The 

 church is nearly on the highest point, and directly at the 

 foot of the mound whose form and position, in defiance 

 of its size, would suggest the idea of its being artificial. 



Any description of the wide view to the north, west, 

 and east, comprising in the latter direction the Laguna 

 Tammiagua, and fading to the apparently illimitable 

 horizon, would be utterly impossible. The slope of the 

 hills displayed a wilderness of rank vegetation. To the 

 south rose several groups of conical hills, in advance of 

 the more distant chain to which we were gradually ap- 

 proaching. 



The afternoon's march brought us some leagues on 

 our road over an undulating country, covered for the 

 most part with forests of palmetto ; and we took up our 

 night's quarters at a poor rancho, tenanted by an old 

 woman, and, unfortunately for us, preoccupied by a 

 gambling party, whose drunken and lawless demeanour 

 was sufficiently offensive and menacing to keep us in 

 hot w 7 ater for some hours ; when they were pleased to 

 take their departure : relieving us from the necessity of 

 either blowing out their brains, or being ourselves 

 stabbed ; a choice of evils truly, but one which appeared 

 for a while almost inevitable. 



