202 AVOYAGETO Book V. 



ful aby fifes and, as they generally follow the direc- 

 tion of the mountain, the road, inftead of lying in 

 a level, forms two or three fteep eminences and de- 

 clivities, in the diftance of two or three hundred yards ; 

 and thefe are the parts where no camelones can be 

 lafting. The mules themfelves are fenfible of the 

 caution requifite in thefe defcents ; for, coming to the 

 top of an eminence, they flop, and having placed their 

 fore feet clofe together, as in a pofture of flopping 

 themfelves, they alfo put their hinder feet together^ 

 but a little forwards, as if going to lie down. In 

 this attitude, having as it were taken a furvey of the 

 road, they flide down with the fwiftnefs of a meteor. 

 All the rider has to do, is to keep himfelf faft in the 

 faddle v>'ithout checking his beafc ; for the leail motion 

 is fufficient to diforder the equilibrium of the mule, 

 in which cafe they botii unavoidably perifh. The 

 addrefs of thefe creatures is here truly wonderful •, 

 for, in this rapid motion, when they feem to have loft 

 all government of themfelves, they follow exadly the 

 different windings of the road, as if they had before 

 accurately reconnoitred, and previoufly fettled in their 

 minds, the route they w^ere to follow, and taken every 

 precaution for their fafety, amidft fo many irregula- 

 rities. There would indeed otherwife be no pof- 

 fibility of travelling over fuch places, where the lafe- 

 ty of the rider depends on the experience and addrefs 

 of his beaft. 



But the longefl: pradice of travelling thefe roads 

 cannot entirely free them from a kind of dread or 

 horror which appears when they arrive at the top of a 

 {leep declivity. For they flop without being checked 

 by the rider ; and if he inadvertently endeavours to 

 fpur them on, they continue immoveable •, nor will 

 they ftir from the place till they have put themfelves 

 in the above-mentioned pofture. Novv^ it is that they 

 feem to be aduated by reafon ; for they not only at- 

 tentively view the road, but tremble and fnort at the 

 7 danger^ 



