160 



PASSAGE ACROSS 



mule is their own property, I used sometimes to 

 think that, in the hurry and indecision of the 

 moment, they would probably catch him instead of 

 the rider. 



When a large party cross this river, and when it 

 is deep, it is really amusing, after one has got across 

 it, to observe the sudden change of countenance of 

 one's friends as they ride through it; sometimes 

 perched up on the top of a fragment of rock barely 

 covered, and expecting the next step to be their 

 last ; and sometimes scrambling out of a hole, with 

 uplifted eye-brows, open mouth, and an earnest 

 expression of uneasiness and apprehension — and 

 these are really situations into which the traveller 

 in the Andes is often thrown, though they discon- 

 cert the gravity and solemnity of his *' Personal 

 Narrative." 



After passing the Rio de las Vaccas, the ravines 

 appear to grow narrower and steeper, and the tops 

 of the mountains, which are those of the highest 

 range, are rugged, with sharp edges and pinnacles. 



We here came to a quantity of snow and rub- 

 bish, which had been washed down, and which we 

 had great difficulty to pass, for it occasionally broke 



