WILD BEDCHAMBER. 



103 



by huge masses of granite laying in its course, 

 ran between two gigantic mountains of about one 

 thousand five hundred feet high^ and not more 

 than two hundred yards distant from each other ; 

 so that to look up at the summits of either^ we 

 had to lay our heads completely back on our 

 shoulders. Before us^ these tremendous moun- 

 tains met in a pointy round which we had just 

 passed^ but now appeared as one mountain, 

 closing our view in a distance of not more than 

 four or five hundred yards ; behind was the mighty 

 Cordillera, a mass of snow, appearing to block 

 up further progress. Thus were we completely 

 shut up in a den of mighty mountains, to look up 

 either way, before, behind, right or left, ex- 

 cited astonishment — awe and admiration; huge 

 masses of granite that had fallen from the awful 

 heights above, lay scattered about, and formed 

 our various shelters for the night. The torrent 

 which now had become very formidable, rushed 

 down with fury, bounding and leaping over the 



