THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 



149 



At last we crossed a rapid torrent of water, and 

 then immediately afterwards came to another, which 

 takes its rise at the summit of the Andes, and 

 whose course and comparatively gradual descent 

 directs the passage ; and it is on this spot that the 

 traveller may proudly feel that he is at last buried 

 among the mountains of the Andes. The surface 

 of the rocks which surrounded us afforded no pas- 

 ture, and the gnarled wood and the stunted growth 

 of the trees announced the severity of the climate in 

 winter ; yet the forms of the mountains, and the 

 wild groups in which they stood towering one above 

 another can only be viewed with astonishment and 

 admiration. 



Although the sun was retiring, and the mules 

 very tired, we wished to have gone on half an hour 

 longer, but the peon assured us we should not find 

 so good a place, and, pointing to some withered 

 herbage, and some large loose stones, he earnestly 

 advised me to stop, saying, Hai aqui pasto bueno 

 para las mulas, y para su merced buen alojamiento, 

 hai agua, aqui hai todo" (here is pasture for the 

 mules, and for your excellency good lodging, wa- 

 ter, and everything.) We therefore dismounted 



