The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1885-12-04

SO 1nuCHSnOINSt0Slly O0V6lOpeCl UudU Lie
poor of.Chili:weuld move over as the,
poor ofthe old world are coming tor
seek homes In the United States.
From.Apria to November the mouns
tain passes are blockaded with snow,
and it is>alMays dangerous and often.
impossible,te make the journey. Ns4.-
tive couriers who use snow shoes, gos
over the year around, carrying the
mails and find refuge in "casuchas, or
hollows: Of the rocks during storms.
Sometimes, often, indeed, they perish
from exposure or starvation. or per-
haps are. buried under the awful avail
anche. The passes are about IL, 900
feet high, and are swept by winds that
human endurance can not survive.
During the summer the journey is,de-
lightedland although attended by nany
discomforts, has it's compensations to
those who are willing to rough it and
are fond ofmountains scenery. Ladies
often go and enjoy it. Not long since
a party Of thirteen schoolma ms from
the United States, who are down here
teaching under contract with the Ar
gentine government, crossed the noun
tains to Chill, and had lovely TIME"
Plenty of mules and good guides can
be. secured at the termini oflthe rail-
ways, but travellers have to- carry
their own food and bedding.
There are no hotels on the way, but
only 'shacks' or log houses, which
furnish nothing but shelter. Very often
people who are not accustomed to high
attitudes are attacked with disease
called "sirroche," from. which they
sometimes suffer severely. Itcomes in
the form of dizziness and pain in the
head, with vomiting, and so suddenly
that people have been. konwn to fall
off their mules and be seriously injured.
The road is always dangerous, cling
ing to the edge Of mighty precipices and
upon the sides of mountain cliffs, and
only trained mules CAN be used on the
journey. During the winter season the
winds are often So strong as to blow
the mules with thear burdens over the
precipices, and leave them as food for
the condors that are always soaring
around. These. birds know the dam
gerous passes and keep guard with the
expectation OF seeing some traveller or
mule go tumhklng over the cliffs. There
are some bridges, too, that must be
crossed whose construction is not sat-
isfactory to nervous men. They are
made of cowhide stretched across the
ravines after the manner of modern
suspension bridges, and the floor path,
just wide enough for q mule to pass is
laid of the branches of trees dashed to-
gether with hides.
Travellers usually dismonnt, and
lead their mules when they cross these
fragile structures for the hide ropes
n, ;,+arlo1 10 1-ao,> ,,ony11o
from stepping off, do not look very Sc
very great, and a man who is accus-
toned to giddiness will want to lie
down before he gets half way over. 1t
is rather queer that so few accidents
happen, and when they do occur it is
usually because traveller is reckless,
or mule is green. The foxes some
times gnaw the hides, but no accidents
have occurred from this cause for
many years.
The journey on mule-back usually
takes five days of travel at the rate of
thirty or forty miles day, but good
riders with relays of mules often make
it in less than three days. Long chap
ters might be written to describe the
scenery of the mountains, which is as
sublime as can be found anywhere,
and the whole route is historical, as it
has been in use for centuries, There IS
scarcely mile without Some roman
tic association. not a rock without its
incident, and tradition, incident and
romance line the path before the Span
iards conquered the country, and
Don Diego de !Almago crossed it 1895
as he passed southwark to Chilli after
the conquest Of Peru.