mule, and put into one of the saddle-bags a small supply
of food. Whilst I was thus engaged, one of those fierce little dogs
which are domiciled in every Indian hut, slily watched my movements;
and though he had rested at the foot of my bed during the night, yet he
was only prevented, by the repeated threats of his master, from making
an attack upon me. My Indian host handed me my gun; I paid for my
night's lodging by a few reals and some paper cigars; and having asked
him to direct me on my way, I rode off whilst he was expressing his
gratitude, and his kind wishes in the words, "_Dios lo pague!_"

The sky was overhung by a thick mist, and the snow which had fallen
during the night covered the ground as far as the eye could reach. On my
way I met an old Indian woman driving her sheep. The bleating flock
moved slowly on, leaving a deep furrow in the snow, and seeming
impatient till the genial sun should dispel the mist and dissolve the
white covering which overspread their scanty pasture. A little further
on I met the son of this same Indian shepherdess. He and his dog were
busily engaged in catching partridges, destined to be sold on the
following Sunday, in the nearest village.

My road lay along a gentle acclivity, interspersed with rocks and
swamps, which often obliged me to make wide detours. The swamps (or as
the natives call them, _Attoladeros_) are dangerous enemies to
travellers in the Puna, who, with their horses and mules, sometimes
sink into them and perish. Even in the most open parts of the country
it is not easy to discern the swamps, and the ground often sinks
beneath the rider where he least expects it. At length the sun began to
disperse the mist, and the snow gradually melted beneath his burning
rays. Inspired with new vigor, I took a survey of the wild solitude
around me. I was now on one of the level heights, about 14,000 feet
above the sea. On both sides arose the high Cordillera summits crowned
with eternal ice; detached peaks here and there towering to the skies.
Behind me lay, deep and deeper, the dark valleys of the lower mountain
regions, which, with the scarcely discernible Indian villages, receded
in the distance, till they blended with the line of the horizon. Before
me stretched the immeasurable extent of the level heights, at intervals
broken by ridges of hills. It seemed as though here, in the snow plains
of the Cordillera, Nature had breathed out her last breath. Here life
and death m