100 



DANGER OF THE PASSES. 



stones and earth, did not take up so much time 

 as I expected^ although above head were huge 

 masses of granite, from which small fragments 

 were tumbling down, occasioned by the wind 

 acting on the parts where the recent fall had taken 

 place. On the pass being made venturable^ if I 

 may use the term^ we commenced crossing. To 

 look up or down was certainly dangerous, and 

 enough to make the strongest head giddy : our 

 eyes were fixed on our feet, which at every step 

 sent the loose stones jumping, and splashing 

 into the torrent beneath; had our feet once 

 slipped, nothing in this world could have saved 

 us from being dashed to atoms among the rocks, 

 in the foaming torrent below. No passengers 

 having passed since the fall, all the difficulty and 

 danger lay with us, (and, at this season of the 

 year, others were to be hourly apprehended,) 

 but, in the regular tract, I do not think the 

 slightest danger is to be apprehended. Our 

 mules were obliged to be unloaded, and the lug- 

 gage carried over on the peons' shoulders. It 



