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CHTLT. 



attaching them afterwards to trees, and to posts 

 driven into the bank. The clear span from the 

 frame, or pier, on one side, to the face of the rock 

 on the other, is one hundred and twenty-three feet. 

 The materials being very elastic, the bridge wav- 

 ed up and down with our weight, and vibrated 

 from side to side in so alarming a manner, that, 

 at the recommendation of the guide, we dismount- 

 ed and drove our horses, one by one, before us ; 

 but, it must be owned, neither man nor horse ap- 

 peared much at ease during the passage. 



Shortly after crossing the Maypo we reached the 

 lowest range of the Andes, round the base of which 

 the road wound amongst immense masses of rock 

 which had been precipitated from the ridges above: 

 and occasionally we passed through a belt of trees, 

 growing like a fringe to the skirt of the mountains. 

 It soon became dark ; and if in broad daylight the 

 character of the scenery was so new and stupen- 

 dous, as to defy all our attempts to estimate dis- 

 tances and proportions, much greater was our per- 

 plexity now. In a strange country, the traveller'^s 

 fancy is curiously worked upon at such moments 

 by the indistinct images which rise before him at 



