iences great difficulty in breathing, accompanied by a sharp,
piercing pain at each inspiration. This increases until he becomes what
the natives call "emparamento,"--when his extremities are benumbed, and
he can no longer continue in motion. Soon after this he is seized with
violent raving and delirium; froth issues from his mouth; he tears the
flesh from his hands and arms with his teeth, pulls his hair, and beats
himself against the ground, meanwhile uttering the most piercing cries,
until he is quite exhausted. The cold then deprives him of all motion
and feeling, his body becomes much swollen, and fearful distortion of
the features is produced by the dreadful convulsions he is suffering,
while the surface of his skin becomes nearly black. The only remedy the
natives know of is to scourge each other, and to drink the cold water
from the springs, which are found here and there in most of the Paramos.

We had all of us heard this account of the Paramos, and were fully
prepared for the danger we must encounter. Being on foot, we should the
better be able to keep ourselves warm; at the same time, we should be
the longer exposed to the piercing wind. Already, as we mounted towards
this fearful region, we began to experience unpleasant sensations when
breathing.

Having taken an ample breakfast, we determined to push on to the tambo,
where we must rest until the following morning. It was most important
to reach it before dark, for should we be benighted our position would
become critical in the extreme. Nerving ourselves for the undertaking,
we marched forward. Providentially there was but little wind. As we
advanced we saw the skeletons and carcasses of numerous mules; some
perfectly blanched by the wind, others still partly covered with flesh,
on which numberless galenachas, or black vultures, were busily feasting.
The stench proceeding from others not long dead, close to which we had
to pass, was most offensive.

"At all events, no human beings appear to have died here," I observed to
our guide.

"Don't say that, until you have got further," he answered.

In a few minutes we came in sight of a grinning skull placed on the top
of a rock, the body lying below it. A few steps further on we came upon
the skeletons of several persons lying with their legs across their
mules; both the animal and its rider having evidently succumbed at the
same moment.

"This does not look pleasant," observed Uncle Richard; "