98 



FIRST PASS SWEPT AWAY. 



fore we arrived at it, our arriero^ with two peons 

 went on before. I was pretty well in advance 

 of the rest ; but^ on turning a point, all at once 

 I lost the path. I looked before and behind, 

 above and below, but no arriero or peons could 

 I see, till at last I heard him hallooing for me to 

 keep back, and then I saw them, like crows, 

 literally stuck in the side of the mountain ; the 

 arriero, with an iron crow-bar, clearing a footing 

 before him, and the stones rolling from beneath 

 his feet three or four hundred feet, splashing in 

 the torrent below^ No wonder I missed them ; 

 for, for the space of a hundred yards, there 

 was not the slightest vestige of a path left, a 

 recent fall having taken place from above, had 

 swept it all down into the abyss below^ 



In order to give the reader an idea of what 

 these passes are, it may be necessary to explain 

 how they are situated ; and a description of one 

 with very little variation will serve for all, ex- 

 cepting the latter ones, where we lost our mules, 

 and had snow to pass over instead of earth. 



