372 



JOURNEY. 



Jan. 6th. Thermometer 62°. Roads scarce- 

 ly passable. The declivities of many of the 

 narrow passes were so perpendicular, that the 

 mules, squatting on their hams, slid down 

 twenty or thirty yards, without a possibility 

 of stopping themselves, and with imminent 

 peril to the rider : twice in going down such 

 a steep the crupper of my saddle broke, and I 

 slipped forward on my mule's neck, only keep- 

 ing my seat by dint of squeezing my knees 

 tight against the jaws of the poor animal I be- 

 strode, which had no time or power for kicking. 



I observed a great many trees called Ya- 

 rumo, whose leaf has a white silvery appear- 

 ance on the upper surface, and is green below; 

 it has a peculiar aspect at a distance. — At one 

 o'clock, met a colonel of the Colombian ser- 

 vice, who had come from Peru, via Guayaquil : 

 he informed us that Bolivar had established 

 two packets to run between Callao and the 

 port of Buenaventura, so as to facilitate the 

 communication between the capitals of Peru 

 and Colombia. He informed us of a recent- 

 ly-detected conspiracy amongst some Peru- 

 vian officers, which had been frustrated ; that 

 Bolivar had an army of fifteen thousand men, 

 and expected to commence operations in 



