366 



JOURNEY. 



look SO well, when embosomed in mountains, 

 as when viewed from a height commanding 

 the whole extent beneath, or, as seen from 

 the sea, when at some considerable distance 

 from the land. , 



Having rested a short time at La Tapia, 

 we proceeded to El Moral, a small hut, with 

 a shed outside for travellers to sleep in : here 

 we passed the night. 



Jan. 1st, 1824. New-Year s-day. Rose at 

 half-past four, and breakfasted at daylight. 

 At six o'clock, thermometer 62°. One of my 

 peons missing ; learnt that he had fallen sick 

 at La Tapia; despatched another, whom I 

 hired at this hut, to bring my baggage on, 

 and assist the other. Found the road better 

 than yesterday, but very mountainous. Game 

 to a stream of boiling water, which gushed out 

 of a small aperture in the mountain ; it was 

 tasteless, but the earth about the mouth, 

 which was soft and of a whitish colour, had a 

 saline taste. 



Shortly after passing this stream, we arrived 

 at an abrupt precipice, which went perpen- 

 dicularly down, about fifteen hundred feet, to 

 a mountain-torrent below. Here Lieutenant 



