230 



ASCENT OF THE CUMBRE. 



for which we accordingly prepared, such as ar- 

 ranging the cargoes, girthing the mules afresh, 

 and last, not least, taking a crust of bread, and a 

 little brandy and water by way of stimulus, for 

 it jgas rather cold. We trotted on very mer- 

 rily, passing through many patches of snow, and 

 small torrents running down the mountain, but 

 not such as to inconvenience us, or cause us 

 to dismount. On arriving half way up, and 

 coming to a small flat, which serves as a resting- 

 place, we perceived a troop of mules descend- 

 ing, which detained us some time, as we were 

 obliged to wait until they passed us. The snow 

 still lay in deep ruts, and we were surrounded 

 by high snow-capped mountains in all direc- 

 tions. It was a novel and beautiful sight to 

 look up at the mules defiling down the various 

 zig-zag paths from such an awful height, ap- 

 pearing like so many sheep. As they ap- 

 proached the different patches of snow, that lay 

 in their paths, the peons made a great noise 

 to encourage them over, which was echoed back 



