We had scarcely reached half-way to the mouth of the tunnel, which enters the mountain at the base of a vast vertical mass of rock, when our attention was arrested by the shouts of our men and a commotion among the animals above us. It was occasioned by a descending train of loaded mules, just plunging out of the black throat of the tunnel. The mountain mule always seeks to take the wall of the animal it meets, being perfectly aware of the danger of trying to pass on the outer side of the pathway; and it sometimes happens that neither will give way under any amount of persuasion or blows. The muleteers have to unload the animals, which may then be got past each other. A similar difficulty occurred now, and the conductor of the advancing train hurried down to warn us to dismount and seek the widest part of the path, or some nook by its side, and there await the passage of his mules. He had hardly done speaking when we saw one of our own mules, loaded with our trunks, come plunging down the narrow zigzagging way, evidently in fright, followed wildly by its driver. Just before reaching the place where we stood, the animal fell, going literally heels over head, and would have been carried over the little platform of rock into the river had not the master of the descending train caught the falling mule by its foreleg, and in this way saved it from tumbling over. He at once placed his whole weight on its ears, thus preventing it from struggling, and thus obviating its destruction, while we detached its cargo. A foot farther, and the mule would inevitably have been lost.

It was with no little satisfaction that we saw the last mule of the train pass us, and resumed our ascent. We found the tunnel a roomy one, two or three hundred yards in length, with openings from the face of the precipice for the admission of light and air. Through these we caught brief glimpses of the grand and solemn mountains on the opposite side of the cañon, and through them came in also, hoarse and sullen, the deep voice of the river. I am uncertain as to how far this tunnel may be ascribed to the Incas, but feel sure that their bridge across the Apurimac was at precisely the same point with the present one. We were fully two hours in ascending the steeps, and reached the high mountain-circled plain in which stands the straggling town of Curahuasi, a well-watered village buried among trees and shrubbery.

INDEX.

PAGE
A Fine Scenic RouteHenry T. Finck[31]

Amazon and Madeira Rivers, Forests
of the

Franz Keller[200]
Andes, Monarchs of theJames Orton[251]
Animals of British GuianaC. Barrington Brown[169]
Ants and Monkeys, BrazilianHenry W. Bates[240]
Bacon, Alfred TerryCountry of the Cliff-dwellers[59]
Bates Henry W.Brazilian Ants and Monkeys[240]
Besieged by PeccariesJames W. Wells[219]
Big Trees, Lake Tahoe and TheA. H. Tevis[68]
Brace, Charles Loring

Mariposa Grove and Yosemite
Valley

[88]
Brazilian Ants and MonkeysHenry W. Bates[240]
British Guiana, Animals ofC. Barrington Brown[169]
Brown, C. BarringtonAnimals of British Guiana[169]
Butler, W. F.Winnipeg Lake and River[21]
Canoe- and Camp-life on the MadeiraFranz Keller[212]
Chicago, New York, WashingtonOliver H. G. Leigh[5]
Cliff-dwellers, Country of TheAlfred Terry Bacon[59]
Country of the Cliff-dwellersAlfred Terry Bacon[59]
Destruction of San SalvadorCarl Scherzer[137]
Finck, Henry T.A Fine Scenic Route[31]

Forests of the Amazon and Madeira
Rivers

Franz Keller[200]
Fremont, John C.South Pass and Fremont’s Peak [42]
Fremont’s Peak, South Pass andJohn C. Fremont[42]
Froebel, JuliusRoute of the Nicaragua Canal[130]
Froude, James AnthonyScenes in Trinidad and Jamaica[145]
Hayden, Ferdinand V.In the Yellowstone Park[49]
Humboldt, Alexander vonLife and Scenery in Venezuela[179]
Inca High-roads and BridgesE. George Squier[261]
In the Yellowstone ParkFerdinand V. Hayden[49]
Jackson, Helen HuntChinese Quarter in San Francisco[78]
Jamaica, Scenes in Trinidad andJames Anthony Froude[145]
Keller, Franz

Forests of the Amazon and Madeira
Rivers

[200]
Keller, Franz

Canoe- and Camp-life on The
Madeira

[212]
Kingsley, CharlesThe High Woods of Trinidad[157]
Lake Tahoe and the Big TreesA. H. Tevis[68]
Leigh, Oliver H. G.New York, Washington, Chicago[5]
Life and Scenery In VenezuelaAlexander von Humboldt[179]
Llaneros of Venezuela, TheRamon Paez[190]
Madeira, Canoe- and Camp-Life on theFranz Keller[212]
Mariposa Grove and Yosemite ValleyCharles Loring Brace[88]
Mexico, A Sportsman’s Experience inSir Rose Lambert Price[99]
Mexican Lowlands, Scenery of theFelix L. Oswald[108]
Monarchs of the AndesJames Orton[251]
Monkeys, Brazilian Ants andHenry W. Bates[240]
New York, Washington, ChicagoOliver H. G. Leigh[5]
Nicaragua Canal, Route of theJulius Froebel[130]
Orton, JamesMonarchs of the Andes[251]
Oswald, Felix L.Scenery of the Mexican Lowlands[108]
Paez, RamonThe Llaneros of Venezuela[190]
Peccaries, Besieged byJames W. Wells[219]
Perils of TravelIda Pfeiffer[232]
Pfeiffer, IdaPerils of Travel[232]
Price, Sir Rose LambertA Sportsman’s Experience in Mexico[99]
Route of the Nicaragua CanalJulius Froebel[130]
Ruins of Yucatan, Among theJohn L. Stephens[119]
San Francisco, Chinese Quarter inHelen Hunt Jackson[78]
San Salvador, Destruction ofCarl Scherzer[137]
Scenery of the Mexican LowlandsFelix L. Oswald[108]
Scenes in Trinidad and JamaicaJames Anthony Froude[145]
Scherzer, CarlDestruction of San Salvador[137]
South Pass and Fremont’s PeakJohn C. Fremont[42]
Sportsman’s Experience in MexicoSir Rose Lambert Price[99]
Squier, E. GeorgeInca High-Roads and Bridges[261]
Stephens, John L.Among the Ruins of Yucatan[119]
Tevis A. H.Lake Tahoe and the Big Trees[68]
Travel, Perils ofIda Pfeiffer[232]
Trinidad, The High Woods ofCharles Kingsley[157]
Trinidad and Jamaica, Scenes inJames Anthony Froude[145]
Venezuela, Life and Scenery inAlexander von Humboldt[179]
Venezuela, The Llaneros ofRamon Paez[190]
Washington, New York, ChicagoOliver H. G. Leigh[5]
Wells, James W.Besieged by Peccaries[219]
Winnipeg Lake and RiverButler, W. F.[21]
Woods of Trinidad, The HighCharles Kingsley[157]
Yellowstone Park, In theFerdinand V. Hayden[49]
Yosemite Valley, Mariposa Grove andCharles Loring Brace[88]
Yucatan, Among the Ruins ofJohn L. Stephens[119]

Footnotes:

[A] Charles Kingsley, who wrote here his “At Last,” descriptive of tropical scenes.

[B] Dicotyles torquatos.