Part 22

We carefully measured the length and altitude of the bridge, and found it to be from fastening to fastening one hundred and forty-eight feet long, and at its lowest part one hundred and eighteen feet above the river. Mr. Markham, who crossed it in 1855, estimated the length at ninety feet and the height at three hundred feet. Lieutenant Gibbon, who crossed it in 1857, estimated the length at three hundred and twenty-four feet and the height one hundred and fifty feet. Our measurements, however, are exact. The height may be increased perhaps ten feet when the cables are made taut. They are five in number, twisted from the fibres of the _cabuya_, or maguey plant, and are about four inches thick. The floor is of small sticks and canes, fastened transversely with raw-hide strings. The Indians coming from Andahuaylas and other districts where the cabuya grows, generally bring a quantity of leaves with them wherewith to pay their toll. These are prepared and made into rope by the custodians of the bridge, who must be glad of some occupation in their lone and lofty eyrie.

Our baggage was carried over the bridge, and the animals were then led across one by one, loaded and started up the mountain. The space is too limited to receive more than two loaded mules at a time, and instances are known of their having been toppled over the precipice from overcrowding. We led our horses over without difficulty except in getting them on the bridge. But once fairly on the swaying structure they were as composed as if moving on the solid ground. Perhaps even to the lowest animal intelligence it must be apparent that the centre of the bridge of the Apurimac is not the place for antics, equine or asinine.

Mounted once more, we commenced our steep and difficult ascent. At one place the sheer precipice presented itself on one side, and a vertical wall on the other; next it was a scramble up a ladder of stairs, partly cut in the rock and partly built up with stones against it; then a sudden turn, with a parapet built around it in a semi-circle, to prevent descending animals from being carried into the abyss below by their own momentum. Our cargo-mules toiled up painfully above us, stopping every few steps to breathe, while the muleteers braced themselves against their haunches to afford them some support and rest.

We had scarcely reached half-way to the mouth of the tunnel, which enters the mountain at the base of a vast vertical mass of rock, when our attention was arrested by the shouts of our men and a commotion among the animals above us. It was occasioned by a descending train of loaded mules, just plunging out of the black throat of the tunnel. The mountain mule always seeks to take the wall of the animal it meets, being perfectly aware of the danger of trying to pass on the outer side of the pathway; and it sometimes happens that neither will give way under any amount of persuasion or blows. The muleteers have to unload the animals, which may then be got past each other. A similar difficulty occurred now, and the conductor of the advancing train hurried down to warn us to dismount and seek the widest part of the path, or some nook by its side, and there await the passage of his mules. He had hardly done speaking when we saw one of our own mules, loaded with our trunks, come plunging down the narrow zigzagging way, evidently in fright, followed wildly by its driver. Just before reaching the place where we stood, the animal fell, going literally heels over head, and would have been carried over the little platform of rock into the river had not the master of the descending train caught the falling mule by its foreleg, and in this way saved it from tumbling over. He at once placed his whole weight on its ears, thus preventing it from struggling, and thus obviating its destruction, while we detached its cargo. A foot farther, and the mule would inevitably have been lost.

It was with no little satisfaction that we saw the last mule of the train pass us, and resumed our ascent. We found the tunnel a roomy one, two or three hundred yards in length, with openings from the face of the precipice for the admission of light and air. Through these we caught brief glimpses of the grand and solemn mountains on the opposite side of the canyon, and through them came in also, hoarse and sullen, the deep voice of the river. I am uncertain as to how far this tunnel may be ascribed to the Incas, but feel sure that their bridge across the Apurimac was at precisely the same point with the present one. We were fully two hours in ascending the steeps, and reached the high mountain-circled plain in which stands the straggling town of Curahuasi, a well-watered village buried among trees and shrubbery.

INDEX.

PAGE

A Fine Scenic Route HENRY T. FINCK 31 Amazon and Madeira Rivers, Forests of the FRANZ KELLER 200 Andes, Monarchs of the JAMES ORTON 251 Animals of British Guiana C. BARRINGTON BROWN 169 Ants and Monkeys, Brazilian HENRY W. BATES 240

BACON, ALFRED TERRY Country of the Cliff-dwellers 59 BATES, HENRY W. Brazilian Ants and Monkeys 240 Besieged by Peccaries JAMES W. WELLS 219 Big Trees, Lake Tahoe and The A. H. TEVIS 68 BRACE, CHARLES LORING Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley 88 Brazilian Ants and Monkeys HENRY W. BATES 240 British Guiana, Animals of C. BARRINGTON BROWN 169 BROWN, C. BARRINGTON Animals of British Guiana 169 BUTLER, W. F. Winnipeg Lake and River 21

Canoe- and Camp-life on the Madeira FRANZ KELLER 212 Chicago, New York, Washington OLIVER H. G. LEIGH 5 Chinese Quarter in San Francisco HELEN HUNT JACKSON 78 Cliff-dwellers, Country of The ALFRED TERRY BACON 59 Country of the Cliff-dwellers ALFRED TERRY BACON 59

Destruction of San Salvador CARL SCHERZER 137

FINCK, HENRY T. A Fine Scenic Route 31 Forests of the Amazon and Madeira Rivers FRANZ KELLER 200 FREMONT, JOHN C. South Pass and Fremont's Peak 42 Fremont's Peak, South Pass and JOHN C. FREMONT 42 FROEBEL, JULIUS Route of the Nicaragua Canal 130 FROUDE, JAMES ANTHONY Scenes in Trinidad and Jamaica 145

HAYDEN, FERDINAND V. In the Yellowstone Park 49 HUMBOLDT, ALEXANDER VON Life and Scenery in Venezuela 179

Inca High-roads and Bridges E. GEORGE SQUIER 261 In the Yellowstone Park FERDINAND V. HAYDEN 49

JACKSON, HELEN HUNT Chinese Quarter in San Francisco 78 Jamaica, Scenes in Trinidad and JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE 145

KELLER, FRANZ Forests of the Amazon and Madeira Rivers 200 KELLER, FRANZ Canoe- and Camp-life on The Madeira 212 KINGSLEY, CHARLES The High Woods of Trinidad 157

Lake Tahoe and the Big Trees A. H. TEVIS 68 LEIGH, OLIVER H. G. New York, Washington, Chicago 5 Life and Scenery In Venezuela ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT 179 Llaneros of Venezuela, The RAMON PAEZ 190

Madeira, Canoe- and Camp-Life on the FRANZ KELLER 212 Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley CHARLES LORING BRACE 88 Mexico, A Sportsman's Experience in SIR ROSE LAMBERT PRICE 99 Mexican Lowlands, Scenery of the FELIX L. OSWALD 108 Monarchs of the Andes JAMES ORTON 251 Monkeys, Brazilian Ants and HENRY W. BATES 240

New York, Washington, Chicago OLIVER H. G. LEIGH 5 Nicaragua Canal, Route of the JULIUS FROEBEL 130

ORTON, JAMES Monarchs of the Andes 251 OSWALD, FELIX L. Scenery of the Mexican Lowlands 108

PAEZ, RAMON The Llaneros of Venezuela 190 Peccaries, Besieged by JAMES W. WELLS 219 Perils of Travel IDA PFEIFFER 232 PFEIFFER, IDA Perils of Travel 232 PRICE, SIR ROSE LAMBERT A Sportsman's Experience in Mexico 99

Route of the Nicaragua Canal JULIUS FROEBEL 130 Ruins of Yucatan, Among the JOHN L. STEPHENS 119

San Francisco, Chinese Quarter in HELEN HUNT JACKSON 78 San Salvador, Destruction of CARL SCHERZER 137 Scenery of the Mexican Lowlands FELIX L. OSWALD 108 Scenes in Trinidad and Jamaica JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE 145 SCHERZER, CARL Destruction of San Salvador 137 South Pass and Fremont's Peak JOHN C. FREMONT 42 Sportsman's Experience in Mexico SIR ROSE LAMBERT PRICE 99 SQUIER, E. GEORGE Inca High-Roads and Bridges 261 STEPHENS, JOHN L. Among the Ruins of Yucatan 119

TEVIS, A. H. Lake Tahoe and the Big Trees 68 Travel, Perils of IDA PFEIFFER 232 Trinidad, The High Woods of CHARLES KINGSLEY 157 Trinidad and Jamaica, Scenes in JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE 145

Venezuela, Life and Scenery in ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT 179 Venezuela, The Llaneros of RAMON PAEZ 190

Washington, New York, Chicago OLIVER H. G. LEIGH 5 WELLS, JAMES W. Besieged by Peccaries 219 Winnipeg Lake and River BUTLER, W. F. 21 Woods of Trinidad, The High CHARLES KINGSLEY 157

Yellowstone Park, In the FERDINAND V. HAYDEN 49 Yosemite Valley, Mariposa Grove and CHARLES LORING BRACE 88 Yucatan, Among the Ruins of JOHN L. STEPHENS 119

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:

Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors; otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the authors' words and intent.

End of Project Gutenberg's With the World's Great Travellers, v. 2, by Various