Year: 1878

!
early in the morning, as our sleeping ac-
commodations were not such as would In
cline us to waste the hours of early dawn
in morning maps, and after partaking OF
| breakfast similar to our last nights
supper--a cup of rain water-we mounted
our mules, and followed our half obliter-
ated tracts back in the way we had come
yesterday. The fog was still very dense
when we started, but it passed away In
an hour or two and made our backward
progress more easy. When we reached
the top of the highest ridge, the mount
ain view was superbly grand. Down in
the valley Immediately below us, whose
depths was some three or four thousand
feet, we could see some of the mountains
over which we passed yesterday, and
from our present point of view they ap-
peared like hillocks rather than mountains
of no small altitude. The trees upon
them though large and stately we're not
discernable individually, but seemed like
a mass of cryptogamic vegetation. The
sun was Just rising, and while some por-
tions of the valley were frightened by its
rays, others still lay in the calm repose
of deep and sombre shadows. Far away
rose peak beyond peak, towering heaven
ward far higher than the lofty height on
which we we're, and holding in their
rugged rock bound sides cloud frag-
ments as mementos of the last nights
storm. Broad table-lands and smooth
round mountains lay thousands of feet
below US, their surfaces covered with
vegetation to which the distance gave
the appearance of smooth green velvet.
Broken ridges rose seemingly so sharp
that it would tax Blondin's skill to
walk them. Waterfalls CLEANED like
silver threads upon the distant mountain
sides, and lofty preciplces miles in length
added to the wildness and grandeur of
the scene. Amid all this beauty, this
grandeur and magnificence, there was a
total absence of animal life. No voice
of singing birds added music to the
charming scenery; no sound OF lowing
herds, nor even the tone of the wild
beasts of the forest broke the death-like
stiffness; even the winds were hushed,
and the light breeze breathed no whisper.
Silence and Solitude, twin sisters, here
reigned supreme; the tramp of our mules
rose with irreverent sounds and our own
voices seemed to desecrate the sacred
loneliness.


| About the middle of the afternoon, as
we turned past an abrupt point of rock
on the mountain side, we were gladdened
by the familiar sound of the oaths of our
muleteers. If had been invested with
priestly powers I would have absolved
| those fellows from that sin, without q
monetary recompense. 1t took us about
twenty minutes to get down to where
they were, and then after our long fast
we proved ourselves to be excellent
trencher-men We soon camped for the
night, and made ample amends for the
loss of sleep which befel US while in the
crevices of the rocky cliff.


At an early hour the train started upon
the same trail over which we previously
passed and kept over the same mountains
until we came to a cross and a pile of
stones. 1t was here that we had missed
our way. A clear atmosphere and bright
sunshine gave me an opportunity to
view the scene l have described before
more in detail, and wondered as cliff
and peak and mountain brow, dark
glen and dale, and broad eXpanse of
valley, revelliDg in all the beauty of
light and shade, brust ever upon my
gaze, how it was possible should have
overlooked so many points of beautiful
loneliness. But in such an extended
view new charms will be seen every time
it is looked upon, and if were to travel
over that same trail daily, for life tine,
I would in the last year of an extreme
old age still find new points of beauty
and sublimity in the scene.


At the point where we lost our way
the trail turned abruptly to the left, and
led still further up the mountain side,
over smooth and grassy course, and
winding among immense boulders of
conglomerate rock, making new and
varied feature of scenery. At noon we
paused upon the highest point of the
mountain, and here we found spring
of clear, sparkling water, delicious to the
palate and refreshing to the body. The
| light breeze which crossed the mountain
top was cool and bracing, and a little
passing cloud, which occupied but few
moments in its transit, cast down upon
us a gentle sprinkling, and added still
more to the freshness of the atmosphere.


We tarried here only long enough to
eat our lunch, and give the mules brief
breathing spell and then going down
short but rough rocky trail, and riding
few leagues over a stretch of table-land,
we commenced our descent to Coyegache.
A more rough, precipitous, and broken
descent we have not made thus far
upon our route. at some place the trail
appeared to be more than perpendicular
ii sIoped under making the ride in
such portions rather peculiar. From
ock to rock the mules had at times to
jump down some two feet or more, and
at others to pause and consider which
was the most safe fragment upon which
| m fiy their tread or rolling Debbles rem