481 



guides. They were Blacks, and knew some- 

 thing of the path, leading toward the shore* 

 over the ridge of the mountain, near the west- 

 ern peak of the Silla. This path is frequented 

 by smugglers, but neither the guides, nor the 

 most experienced of the militia, accustomed to 

 pursue the smugglers in those wild spots, had 

 been on the eastern peak, forming the most ele- 

 vated summit of the Silla. During the whole 

 month of December, the mountain, the angles 

 of elevation of which made me acquainted with 

 the effects of the terrestrial refractions, had 

 appeared only five times without clouds. In 

 this season two serene days seldom succeeding 

 each other, we were advised not to choose a 

 clear day for our excursion, but rather a time 

 when, the clouds not being very elevated, we 

 might hope, after having crossed the first layer 

 of vapours uniformly spread, to enter into a dry 

 and transparent air. We passed the night of 

 the 2d of January in the estancia of Gallegos, 

 a plantation of coffee-trees, near which the 

 little river of Chacaito, flowing in a luxuriantly 

 shaded ravin, forms some fine cascades in des- 

 cending the mountains. The night was pretty 

 clear ; and though on the day preceding a 

 fatiguing journey we should have wished to 

 enjoy some repose, Mr. Bonpland and I pass- 



* To Caravalleda. 

 VOL. III. 2 I 



