A SUSPENSION BRIDGE. 241 



recrossing in a zigzag course along the side of the height, 

 perhaps making the descent a mile and a half long. 

 Very soon we reached the bank of a beautiful river, 

 running lengthwise through the valley, bordered on each 

 side by immense trees, throwing their branches clear 

 across, and their roots washed by the stream ; and while 

 the plain beyond was dry and parched, they were green 

 and luxuriant. Riding along it, we reached a suspension 

 bridge of most primitive appearance and construction, 

 called by the natives La Hammaca, which had exist- 

 ed there from time immemorial. It was made of oziers 

 twisted into cords, about three feet apart, and stretch- 

 ed across the river with a hanging network of vines, 

 the ends fastened to the trunks of two opposite trees. 

 It hung about twenty-five feet above the river, which 

 was here some eighty feet wide, and was supported in 

 different places by vines tied to the branches. The ac- 

 cess was by a rude ladder to a platform in the crotch 

 of the tree. In the bottom of the hammaca were two 

 or three poles to walk on. It waved with the wind, 

 and was an unsteady and rather insecure means of 

 transportation. From the centre the vista of the river 

 both ways under the arches of the trees was beautiful, 

 and in every direction the hammaca was a most pic- 

 turesque-looking object. We continued on to the vil- 

 lage, and after a short halt and a smoke with the al- 

 calde, rode on to the extreme end of the valley, and by 

 a steep and stony ascent, at twenty minutes past twelve 

 reached the level ground above. Here we dismounted, 

 slipped the bridles of our mules, and seated ourselves 

 to wait for our Indians, looking down into the deep un- 

 bosomed valley, and back at the great range of Cordil- 

 leras, crowned by the Sierra Madre, seeming a barrier 

 fit to separate worlds. 



Vol. IL— H h 21 



