OR DIFFICULTY OF BREATHING. 149 



stroys vegetation ; the grass is often burnt and 

 black with it. That it is not so sensible as 

 piercing. It quencheth the vital heat; yet it 

 doth not corrupt^ or give any putrefaction to 

 dead bodies. The best remedy against its in- 

 fluence is^ for people to stop their noses, their 

 ears^ and their mouths^ as much as may be; 

 and to cover themselves with clothes^ especially 

 the stomach ; for that the air is so subtle and 

 piercings that not only men feel this alteration^ 

 but also beasts^ that sometimes stay there ; as 

 no spur, or beating, can make them go for- 

 ward.''* 



On my return across the Andes in December 

 1827, I found the mules frequently stop to 

 breathe, especially going up the Cumbre, where 

 they stopt at every turning of the zigzag path, 

 as if affected in the lungs, when from experience 

 I found, as Acosta observes, that no spur, or 

 beating, could make them go forward," till they 

 went at their own pleasure ; but this is not appli- 

 Lib. iii. cap. 9. 



