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LAS cuucp:s. 



a good deal; for the road, by constant use and 

 the rain wearing it away, had sunk down con- 

 siderably into a kind of narrow galleries, with 

 perpendicular sides, over which the trees, loos- 

 ened in their roots, had in many places fallen 

 so low as to compel my sillero to stoop very 

 frequently to enable us to pass under them ; 

 sometimes he did not bend sufficiently, and I 

 often received a violent blow on the back of 

 my head, from the intervening branch of a 

 tree, which knocked off my hat, and leaving 

 me half stunned, added materially to the vio- 

 lent pains I experienced in every part of my 

 body. How often, whilst I was scarcely able 

 to keep my seat in the chair from soreness of 

 limb, and the rain falling in torrents, and. 

 drenching me to the skin, did I wish myself 

 safe out of these mountains! — how often did I 

 vow never again to cross them ! About four 

 o'clock we arrived at an open spot called Las 

 Cruces, where we stopped ; some of the peons, 

 who had arrived before me, had made a small 

 rancha ; I got into it, and shortly after found 

 that all the fcons refused, as it rained hard, 

 to make my tent ; they said they were unwell. 

 Finding this was a mere pretext, I told them, 



