THE ANDES. 



19 



which^ at the depth of thirty or forty feet^ the 

 torrent was foaming and rioting in its bed, 

 a matchless cataract/' the narrow path above 

 scarcely giving room for a horse to pass. 

 Just beyond this point I turned to see how 

 the mules and baggage had fared ; but nothing 

 being in view, and suspecting that all was not 

 right, I rode back to see. A white sumpter- 

 mule, with our provisions, had bumped its load 

 against the rocks, and, by the rebound, was 

 forced, head foremost, down the precipice. But, 

 strange to say, instead of breaking his neck, he 

 was caught between two projecting rocks ; and 

 there he lay on his back, stuck fast, but unin- 

 jured. The peons soon released him, and he 

 was, by means of the lasso, hauled up, all safe 

 and sound. In order to avoid the recurrence 

 of this disaster, the mules were unladen, and 

 their burdens carried for them beyond the dan- 



