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Show 408 PASSAGE OF CORDILLERA. April, 1835. This we found to be the case with the Rio Vacas, and in the morning we crossed it with little difficulty. . The scenery thus far was very uninteresting, compared With that of the Portillo pass. Little can be seen bey~nd the bare walls of the one grand, flat-bottomed valley, whiCh the road follows up to the highest crest. The valley ~nd the huge rocky mountains were extremely barren: durmg ~he two previous nights the poor mules. had absolutely nothmg to eat. for excepting a few low resmous bushes, scarcely a plant ~ould be seen. We went over in the course of this day some of the worst passes in the Cordiller~. The .degree of exaggeration concerning their danger and difficulty IS very great. In Chile I was even told, that if I attempted to pass on foot my head would turn giddy, that there was no room to dismount, &c., but I did not see a place where any one might not have walked over backwards, or got off .his mule on either side. One of the bad passes called las Anzmas (the Souls), I had crossed, and did not find out till a day afterwards that it was one of the awful dangers. No doubt there are many parts in which, if the mule should stumble, the rider would be hurled down a great precipice ; but of such a catastrophe there is much less chance than with a man on foot. I dare say, in the spring, the "laderas," or roads, which each year are formed anew across the piles of fallen detritus, are very bad ; but from what I have seen, I suspect the real danger is nothing, and the apparent very li~tle. With cargo mules the case is rather different ; for the loads project so far, that the animals occasionally running against each other, or against a point of rock, lose their balance and are thrown down the precipice. With regard to crossing the rivers, I can well believe that the difficulty amounts to every degree, till they are impracticable. At this season there was little trouble, but in the summer they must be very bad. I can quite imagine, as Captain Head describes, the different expressions of those who have passed the gulf, and those who are passing. I never heard of any man being drowned, but with loaded mules this is of frequent April, 1835. INDIAN RUINS. 409 occurrence. The arriero tells you to show your mule the best line, and then allow her to cross as she chooses ; the cargo mule takes a bad line, and is often lost. APRIL 4TH.-From the Rio de las Vacas to the Puente del Inca, half a day's journey. As there was pasture for the mules, and geology for me, we bivouacked for the night. When one hears of a natural bridge, one pictures to oneself some deep and narrow ravine, across which a bold mass of rock has fallen ; or a great arch hollowed out like the vault of a cavern. Instead of this, the Inca's bridge consists of a crust of stratified shingle, cemented together by the deposits of the neighbouring hot springs. It appears as if the stream had scooped out a channel on one side, leaving an overhanging ledge, which was at last met by the earth and stones falling down from the opposite cliff. Certainly an oblique junction, as would happen in such case, was very distinct on one side. The bridge of the Incas is by no means worthy of . the great monarchs whose name it bears. Close by, there were some ruins of Indian buildings. These occur in several other places; the most perfect, which I saw, being the Ruinas de Tambillos. Small square rooms were there huddled together, but placed in distinct groups. Some of the doorways were yet standing : they were formed by a cross slab of stone, but only raised about three feet high. Ulloa, in his " N oticias Americanas," remarks on the lowness of the doors in the ancient Peruvian dwellings. These houses, when perfect, must have been capable of containing a considerable number of persons. Tradition says, they were used as halting-places for the Incas, when they crossed these mountains. Traces of Indian habitations have been discovered in many parts of the Cordillera, where it does not appear probable, that they were constructed as mere resting-places; but yet where the land is as utterly unfit for any kind of cultivation as it is near the Tambillos or Puente del Inca. In the Portillo pass I saw one group of such ruins. In the ravine of Jajuel, near Aconcagua, where there is no pass, I heard of numerous remains situated |