dure and healthful vegetation now gladden the sight, and in the midst of a country teeming with all the delights of rural life appears the clean and prettily-situated town of Sicasica, with its large and commodious church, possessing some claims to architectural beauty. The houses and streets are excessively neat, and the post-house at which I stopped contains every accommodation for the traveller. The postmaster is a very superior man, and I must do him the justice to say that his mules are in first-rate order. Having taken in a fresh supply of new bread, oranges, &c., I loaded another set of mules, and started afresh.

I adopted a very successful stratagem to get rid of my suspicious companions at a former post, and that was, being well mounted on a valuable mulo de passo, that could with ease travel the whole day at the rate of four miles the hour, to start in advance of my luggage, and, arriving at the post an hour or so before it, to get all the refreshment and repose necessary for myself, so that, on the arrival of my baggage, it was only necessary to get it transferred to the fresh post mules that I had ordered, and again to set forth on

my journey. They, on the contrary, having to travel for month or more, probably hired their animals for the whole period, and thus I was enabled to outstrip them; or, perhaps, seeing that I took no notice of them, they kept aloof, particularly as they knew I was well backed by my Argentine friends.

The road from this town retained its agreeable features, the adjoining country being well watered by a beautiful and pellucid stream. As I proceeded, the old Redacto claimed my attention; a large square adobe fortification, with its loop-holes commanding every approach; and, no doubt, during the early struggle for independence, a place of great strength and importance. Following the course of the little river till it loses much of its purity, and forms itself into a small lake, well impregnated by various minerals, I found myself close to the post of Panduro. This was a building like the rest, with similar conveniences. Having secured one of the smaller rooms, I partook of an excellent dinner, consisting of chupe (in the cooking of which, for the benefit of travellers, many Indian women are constantly

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Y

employed in all these establishments) and ribs of mutton broiled, a delicacy of the first order for the famished traveller. Whilst waiting for my baggage, I amused myself with a young vicuna, remarkably tame, with whom a set of Indian children were playing in the yard on terms of the greatest familiarity. He bounded about most gracefully, and came to feed out of my hand without showing any symptom of timidity. Retiring to rest after indulging in a refreshing cup of tea, I fell into a very sound sleep, and was not made aware of the arrival of my Argentine friends till the next morning, the sound of the guitars, their songs, and their midnight orgies having failed to arouse me from the deep repose into which I had fallen. Being generally astir in the morning before any of my companions, I got served first, and completed all my arrangements before they commenced preparations for action.

On leaving the post, I observed that the green and healthy appearance of the heather began to decline. It gradually became more and more stunted, and at last visibly disappeared altogether. The monotony of the road, however, was happily relieved by the

appearance of large herds of llamas, under the charge of Indian families; troops of donkeys laden with drugs and other necessaries, on their way from Cochabamba to La Paz, and occasionally large numbers of horses and mules, driven from the far Argentine provinces, in order to be sold in the principal towns of Bolivia and Peru. On descending from the brow of a hill, the town of Caracollo appears to view, and on a slight elevation on the other side of the road are a number of Indian monuments of very peculiar construction and shape, resembling in form and position, though on a far less scale, the Druidical ruins to be seen in various parts of England. These monuments are often to be met with in a journey through these parts, and are, according to the Indian tradition, the dwelling-places of the little people-dwarfs or fairies, and as such are supposed to possess supernatural powers and charms.

END OF VOL. I.

M. S. Myers, Printer, 22, Tavistock Street, Covent Garden.