LOSE TWO MORE MULES. 



109 



like a ball into the torrent^ where he rolled 

 round and round, in vain struggling to stem 

 its velocity, being dashed against rocks and 

 stones, till he was swept round a point, and 

 I lost all sight of him. Another soon followed, but 

 was more fortunate than its companion, for he 

 succeeded in gaining the opposite shore, where, 

 very much to my astonishment, instead of see- 

 ing him laying with every bone in its body 

 broken, he got up upon its legs, and began 

 browsing among the rocks : thus we lost the ser- 

 vices of three. My companion, who had crossed 

 the Cordillera three times before, once in winter, 

 had never seen a mule lose its footing, so as to 

 roll down the mountains. 



We now proceeded on, and crossed the Rio de 

 las Vacas, which joins the Mendoza, and termi- 

 nates the range of mountains we had been travel- 

 ling along since leaving Uspallata. Shortly after 

 this we came to a steep ascent, and arrived at 

 the Punta de las Vacas; where, on account of the 

 snow increasing on us so much, our mules 



