PASSAGE OF THE CORDILLERA. 



359 



CHAPTER XVI. 



PASSAGE OF THE CORDILLERA OF THE AN- 

 DES, CALLED QUINDIO, FROM IBAGUE TO 

 CARTAGO LA BALSA CARTAGO MINES. 



Every thing being prepared, I bade adieu 

 to my kind host and family, and mounting my 

 mule, at ten o'clock, set forward on my for- 

 midable undertaking. Almost immediately on 

 leaving Ibague we commenced ascending a 

 mountain, which overlooked the town to the 

 south-west. I found the road particularly bad, 

 being very steep, and so slippery, that the 

 mules could scarcely keep their feet. To add 

 to my comfort, on reaching a narrow pass, 

 where the mountain rose perpendicularly on 

 one side, and a tremendous precipice on the 

 other, the owner of the mules, who had ac- 

 companied me thus far, exclaimed, Ah ! sir, 

 here I lost a valuable mule the other day ; his 



