102 



GUANACO CAUGHT. 



of mind^ they may be avoided^ having such an 

 immense height to tumble. 



A poor solitary guanaco was now seen at a 

 great height above us. The peons and dogs 

 clambered after it with astonishing rapidity^ 

 and surrounded the poor animal, which in at- 

 tempting to escape^ by leaping from one rock 

 to another^ fell and broke its leg ; the peons in- 

 stantly dragged it down the mountain, head over 

 heels, a height of about five hundred feet, and 

 without bleeding or killing it, absolutely skinned 

 it alive. We now came to the Jaula or Cage, 

 from which the pass takes its name, where we 

 took up our quarters for the night, under the lee 

 of a solid mass of granite, upwards of thirty feet 

 square, with the clear beautiful heavens for our 

 canopy. Well may this place be called a cage : 

 to give a just idea of it would be next to impos- 

 sible, for I do not think a more wild or grander 

 scene in nature could possibly exist : neverthe- 

 less, I shall attempt a description. The foaming 

 river branching otf into different channels, formed 



