THE GREAT CORDILLERA. 



153 



water, and as the side of the mountain was covered 

 with loose stones, we were afraid they would roll 

 some of them down upon us. 



On the opposite side of the water, was one of the 

 most singular geological formations vvhich we had 

 witnessed. At the head of a ravine was an enor- 

 mous perpendicular mountain of porphyry, broken 

 into battlements and turrets, which gave it ex- 

 actly the appearance of an old castle, on a scale, 

 however, altogether the subject of a romance. The 

 broken front represented, in a most curious manner, 

 old fashioned windows and gates, and one of the 

 Cornish miners declared " he could see an old 

 woman coming across a draw-bridge." 



As I was looking up at the region of snow, and 

 as my mule was scrambling along the steep side of 

 the rock, the capataz overtook me, and asked me 

 if I chose to come on, as he was going to look at 

 the " Ladera de las Vaccas,'*'' to see if it was passable, 

 before the mules came to it He accordingly 

 trotted on, and in half an hour we arrived at the 



* When first, from the melting of the snow, the Cordillera is 

 " open/' this passage is always impassable j but it becomes 

 broader towards the end of summer. 



