TRAVELLING BY SILLA.
"A bamboo chair is strapped to the back of the sillero, or porter, by means of belts going around his chest and another which crosses his forehead. The traveller sits in this chair, with his feet supported on a step which forms part of the conveyance. He must sit perfectly still while the sillero is in motion, as the least change of position might cause the porter to stumble and fall, and a fall among the rocks is liable to be a very serious affair for both parties.
"Mr. Horton, in his 'Twenty Months in the Andes,' tells of a Spanish officer who was travelling in this way, and wore a pair of spurs with which he occasionally prodded the porter, to urge him to greater speed. The latter took a fearful revenge.
"Maddened with the pain produced by the cruel spurs, he pitched his rider headlong over a precipice, where there was a sheer fall of two or three hundred feet. The officer was killed instantly, and before his companions could secure the sillero the latter fled into the forest and escaped. The scene of this occurrence is pointed out, and there is little doubt of the truth of the story. It is easy to see that the traveller is entirely at the mercy of his carrier; knowing this, we were careful to secure the good-will of our silleros by promising an extra payment if they went through without accident.
"We walked the greater part of the distance; it may surprise you to know that we walked over the easiest part of the route, and rode where the way was dangerous, except in a few places. Manuel told us that these men were accustomed to this work from the time they were able to carry burdens, and they knew every inch of the way. It was really safer for us to ride on their backs, in the dangerous places, than to attempt to walk; they knew exactly where to put their feet at every step, while we did not. We followed his advice and found it correct, and we were very careful, you may be sure, not to move a muscle when ascending or descending the steep slopes of the ravines."
Three days were consumed in this journey of thirty miles. The porters with the baggage led the caravan, and sometimes they were an hour or more in advance of the travellers. At night they spread a small tent, which formed a part of their equipment, and were thus sheltered from the weather. It was necessary to wear rubber clothing, as the rains were frequent, and even with this precaution the evening generally found them wet through to the skin. But a change to dry clothing and several cups of steaming hot tea with their supper drove away all suggestions of rheumatism and kindred ills resulting from the dampness, and they finished the novel ride without a mishap.
Fred took note of the changes in the animal life as they descended from the crest of the great Andean chain. In the mountains they frequently saw the condor, the giant bird of South America, whose range extends from the Isthmus of Darien to the Strait of Magellan. Both the youths were disappointed in the size of the condor, which had been grossly exaggerated in the tales of travellers and the accounts of the old historians. He has been represented as having wings spreading fifteen or twenty feet from tip to tip. The largest they could hear of measured thirteen feet, and even this was not entirely authentic; the largest they saw was nine feet across the wings; Humboldt never found one of more than nine feet, and the largest specimen seen by Darwin measured eight and a half feet. The body from the tip of the beak to the end of the tail is from three to three and a half feet in extreme length.