410 



PRECIPITOUS DESCEN^T. 



an almost perpendicular declivity, backwards. 

 My face was thus turned to the abyss below, 

 the bottom of which was two thousand feet 

 from the place where we were, with a plat- 

 form sixty feet beneath us, about twelve feet 

 square. My sillero commenced his descent, 

 holding by the roots of trees, sometimes with 

 only one hand, whilst with the other he was 

 scratching with his pole, of hardened wood, 

 pointed, (which all the peons have in these 

 mountainous parts,) a place for his foot to rest 

 on at his next step. I had been taken by sur- 

 prise, and called out to him, as soon as pos- 

 sible, to set me down ; but he desired me to 

 sit quite still, if I had any regard for my safety, 

 with which I complied, and we eventually 

 reached the small platform below without ac- 

 cident. * 



We here halted for some time before we 

 again proceeded. The road continued along 

 this lower ridge ; the path at first nearly four- 

 teen feet wide, but gradually narrowing to 

 about two feet, and continuing so with but little 

 variation for some distance ; the sides of the 



* See Frontispiece to this Volume. 



