The Next Day We Crossed The Plain, And Followed The Course
Of The Same Great Mountain Stream Which Flows By Luxan.
Here It Was A Furious Torrent, Quite Impassable, And Appeared
Larger Than In The Low Country, As Was The Case With The Rivulet
Of Villa Vicencio.
On the evening of the succeeding day,
we reached the Rio de las Vacas, which is considered the
worst stream in the Cordillera to cross.
As all these rivers
have a rapid and short course, and are formed by the melting
of the snow, the hour of the day makes a considerable difference
in their volume. In the evening the stream is muddy
and full, but about daybreak it becomes clearer, and much
less impetuous. 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 beyond the
bare walls of the one grand flat-bottomed valley, which the
road follows up to the highest crest. The valley and
the huge rocky mountains are extremely barren: during the
two previous nights the poor mules had absolutely nothing
to eat, for excepting a few low resinous bushes, scarcely a
plant can be seen. In the course of this day we crossed some
of the worst passes in the Cordillera, but their danger has
been much exaggerated. I was told that if I attempted to
pass on foot, my head would turn giddy, and that there was
no room to dismount; 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
Animas_ (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 this there is little chance. 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 saw, I suspect the real danger is nothing. 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 precipices. In crossing the rivers
I can well believe that the difficulty may be very great: at
this season there was little trouble, but in the summer they
must be very hazardous. I can quite imagine, as Sir F.
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 it frequently
happens. The arriero tells you to show your mule
the best line, and then allow her to cross as she likes:
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