PORTILLO PASS 
CHAP. 
o o 
JJ 
6 
riding astride on a mule. She had a goitre so enormous that 
it was scarcely possible to avoid gazing at her for a moment ; 
but my two companions almost instantly, by way of apology, 
made the common salute of the country by taking off their 
hats. Where would one of the lower or higher classes in 
Europe have shown such feeling politeness to a poor and 
miserable object of a degraded race ? 
At night we slept at a cottage. Our manner of travelling 
was delightfully independent. In the inhabited parts we bought 
a little firewood, hired pasture for the animals, and bivouacked 
in the corner of the same field with them. Carrying an iron pot, 
we cooked and ate our supper under a cloudless sky, and knew 
no trouble. My companions were Mariano Gonzales, who had 
formerly accompanied me in Chile, and an “ arriero,” with his 
ten mules and a “ madrina.” The madrina (or godmother) is a 
most important personage : she is an old steady mare, with a 
little bell round her neck ; and wherever she goes, the mules, 
like good children, follow her. The affection of these animals 
for their madrinas saves infinite trouble. If several large troops 
are turned into one field to graze, in the morning the muleteers 
have only to lead the madrinas a little apart, and tinkle their 
bells ; and although there may be two or three hundred together, 
each mule immediately knows the bell of its own madrina, and 
comes to her. It is nearly impossible to lose an old mule ; for 
if detained for several hours by force, she will, by the power of 
smell, like a dog, track out her companions, or rather the 
madrina, for, according to the muleteer, she is the chief object 
of affection. The feeling, however, is not of an individual 
nature ; for I believe I am right in saying that any animal with 
a bell will serve as a madrina. In a troop each animal carries 
on a level road a cargo weighing 416 pounds (more than 29 
stone), but in a mountainous country 100 pounds less ; yet with 
what delicate slim limbs, without any proportional bulk of 
muscle, these animals support so great a burden ! The mule 
always appears to me a most surprising animal. That a hybrid 
should possess more reason, memory, obstinacy, social affection, 
powers of muscular endurance, and length of life, than either of 
its parents, seems to indicate that art has here outdone nature. 
Of our ten animals, six were intended for riding, and four for 
carrying cargoes, each taking turn about. We carried a good 
