160 



BEAUTIFUL SCENERY. 



excellent milk, fresh from the cow; and while 

 enjoying it under the shade of a tree, (for the 

 thermometer now stood at 84*^ in the sun,) 

 flocks of parrots were hovering over our heads, 

 shrieking out their discordant notes ; but which 

 was music to my ears, as it reminded me that I 

 was further removed from the dreary regions. 

 As we descended, the velocity of the torrent in- 

 creased, also the beauty of the scenery, many 

 places having all the appearance of a gentleman's 

 park. As we wound out of these, to round the 

 sides of some of the tremendous mountains, the 

 roaring torrent lay beneath us, and on the oppo- 

 site side were many cascades^ falling and roaring 

 down the sides of the mountains, in many places 

 a perpendicular height of 600, 800, and 1000 

 feet. We passed El alto del Soldado, or 

 the Soldier^s Leap, which is a most remarkable 

 gap in a huge mountain, as if it had been reft 

 by an earthquake, with a torrent rushing through 

 it, emptying itself into the river. It is famed 

 (so report says) for a deserter having leaped 



