light vaporous clouds were floating, while in the
distance towered the mountains of Higuerota.
We stopped more than once to gaze at the scenery,
but our mules were so good that in thirty minutes
we had gained the crest of the mountain. Here
we passed the ruins of a chapel, which was
thrown down by the earthquake of 1812. " What
a view," said I to C., "there must have been
from this spot of the falling city, of the descending
rocks, and the other horrors of the
earthquake!" " Why yes," replied C., " if you could
have kept your feet to look, but it is my opinion
that you would have been knocked down by the
shock. There was one man up here at the
chapel, but he did not see much, for the walls
fell upon him and crushed him."

We now turned our backs on Carácas, and
saw no more of it, and in another half-hour we
reached a posada, a mile beyond which we turned
off from the broad military road by which we
had hitherto been travelling (and the making of
which does the Spaniards no little credit), into
the far-famed Indian Path. This winds along
the mountain, at the height of some six thousand
feet, through thick low woods, varied by patches
of coffee plantations and other cultivations. In
places there is a sheer precipice, and in others,
where there is only a steep slope, some hardy
adventurers have built cottages, and planted
coffee and the ubiquitous yuca and plantain.
Storms of wind are luckily not very common in
this locality, or these huts and their owners would,
perchance, go a visiting in the valley below. It
happened, however, that the night before we
started had been very tempestuous, and we now
saw many traces of the mischief wrought by the
storm. In some places we came upon long
avenues made in the wood, in which the trees
had been uprooted or smashed by the wind, and
some had fallen so as almost to block the path,
and put us to no little difficulty in passing them.
However, I was determined not to dismount,
having a wholesome dread of the Bailariu's capering
performances on such a ticklish stage as the
Indian Path. At last we came to a place where
a cottage had been blown down, and the débris
lay right athwart our way, and here I made up
my mind to be stopped altogether. The mule,
however, having more of the female than of the
male nature, in that it is varium et mutabile
semper, does ordinarily baffle calculation in its
proceedings. My cunning old animal knowing,
perhaps, that the place we were at was more
than half way to La Guaira, and that,
consequently, it would get its provender sooner by
going on than by returning, scrambled over the
ruins like a monkey.

From the place where we had turned off into
the Indian Path to the ruined cottage—that is, for
about four miles—we had constantly been looking
over wooded ravines to Cape Blanco, and
beyond that to the sea. Far to the westward, also
our eyes travelled over the Tierra Caliente, or
"coast" with an horizon, which, according to
Hurnboldt, has a radius of sixty-six miles. But
our prospect to the east was cut short by the
jutting of the mountain, wlhich continually
advanced with and beyond us, bold and high
towards the sea. We now at last turned its flank,
and, looking eastward, were repaid with a very
noble view over the gorges that run down from
the Silla to Macuto. The path grew narrower,
and the precipice so sheer, that it seemed as if a
bound would carry us, if we leaped from the mountain,
over the slender strip of coast into the sea.
We now began to see below us Maquetia and La
Guaira, with the vessels at anchor, and so much
was the distance apparently diminished by the
height at which we were, that I fancied I could
have thrown a stone upon the roofs of the houses.

Humboldt seems not to have gone by the
Indian Path, for though he dwells very much
on the beauty of the view to the west, which he
prefers to that from the mountains of Mexico
between Las Trancas and Xalapa, he says nothing
of the eastern view over La Guaira and Macuto,
which struck me as far more wonderful. The
view to the west he could have seen, though not
quite to such advantage as we did, from the
military road: the yellow line of which we
occasionally noticed, at the distance of a mile or
so, cropping out from the woods below us.

It was now past eight A.M., and the heat of the
sun was so fierce that the coast and the sea seemed
to shimmer in its rays; but up to this point we
had been quite protected by the mountain, which
rose in some places nearly one thousand feet
above our heads. No sooner did we turn to the
east, however, but we met the sun face to face,
and the encounter made me quite giddy. It
was with some uneasiness that I descried,
ahead of us, a place where the rain of the
previous night had almost entirely washed
away the path, leaving only a ledge about
a foot broad. "C.," said I, "how are we to
pass that place? I think I must get off,
even if I should have to walk all the rest of the
way in this broiling sun." " Best trust to the
mule," he answered. "You may slip, but he
won't, I'll bet ten to one." " It's of no use
betting," I said, "when I am to be killed if I win;
but I'll take your advice, and chance it on the
mule; so here goes." With these words, I let
my bridle drop on the mule's neck, feeling sure
that if he slipped, it would be of no use trying to
save him, and thinking I might do harm by holding
him too tight. The animal seemed to know
the danger, for he put his head down and sniffed,
then walked steadily over the ledge, and was
followed by C.'s mule, and then by that of the
muleteer, who carried our cloaks. I was just
ejaculating "All right," when the career of the
latter individual was nearly brought to a close.
The last bit of the ledge consisted of a great
stone, which had perhaps been loosened by the
successive pressure of the mules. At all event,
when the last animal had got his hind legs upon
it, it gave way, and down it went with a shower
of earth, crashing among the bushes, until, gathering
velocity, it made a huge bound into the