EL ALTO DEL SOLDADO. 



225 



earth, and the water rushes from underneath, pass- 

 ing through a subterraneous passage, so that when 

 a person is standing at the bottom of the gap, 

 it appears about eight hundred feet high, and 

 has a singular and wonderful appearance, but 

 to leap it, is not in human power to accomplish ; 

 the deserter might have gone round it and hid 

 himself amongst the rocks^ and his pursuers 

 might also have been under the idea that he had 

 leaped over, for without following the gap up very 

 closely, it is so rugged that you cannot perceive 

 that it is at all passable by any other method. 



On leaving this gap, we shortly arrived at the 

 Guardia, which, on my crossing before, was 

 deserted, It was now inhabited, and the walls 

 all built, running a great height up the moun- 

 tains on each side, so that nothing could enter 

 into, or come out of the Cordillera without pass- 

 ing it, being the only pass in the range of the 

 Andes, from Uspallata to Chili. At this place 

 I presented my passport, and had my luggage 

 searched very narrowly ; they found one packet of 



Q 



