DESCENT TO THE COAST. 



219 



at the bliss of being thus transported from place to place, 

 with no effort on his part but w hat was necessary to lie 

 steadily on his back, light another cigarita, or demolish 

 another pineapple or watermelon, with which we had 

 taken care to furnish ourselves ; and, by-the-by, com- 

 pared to the pineapples of Jalapa, all others are but tur- 

 nips. M'Euen was extremely quiet — probably from 

 there being something in the swinging movement of the 

 machine which gave him a foretaste of the coming sor- 

 rows of salt water, from w r hich he always suffered 

 grievously. For myself, I admit that novelty had 

 charms for about ten minutes ; when I discovered that 

 my litter wanted in length what it had in breadth. It 

 was at once too broad and too short for me ; and I had, 

 in consequence, to double myself up, both from neces- 

 sity, and to steady myself as it swung from side to side. 

 In addition, a found both dust and heat nearly insupport- 

 able ; during the night especially, when it seemed prob- 

 able, that 1 should be quite dissolved before dawn. 

 Then there was the motion — soothing enough when the 

 ground was even, and the mules well behaved, but ex- 

 tremely disquieting when they were not of one mind, or 

 when they stumbled down one of the sudden pitches 

 which are common upon this mountain road. It some- 

 times appeared inevitable, that I should be shot forth on 

 my feet ; at others, that I and the litter should be 

 dragged in twain; and long before we came to a halt, 

 I made up my mind, that, " were it not for the honour 

 of the thing," I w r ould much rather have walked. 



This being the state of affairs, it was a great relief to 

 escape from my shell, and take a little rational exercise 

 at Puente del Rey : it is my temper to prefer old names 

 to new ones. The river Antigua, over which this noble 

 causeway and bridge were constructed early in the pres- 

 ent centurv, is formed of the combined waters of two 

 dashing mountain rivers, which issue from their several 

 glens at this point, and intermingle their streams just 

 above the bridge. The whole scene is very striking, 

 from the massive and noble character of the bridge and 

 its approaches, contrasted with the savage character of the 



