The next morning we entered an open, rolling, and undulating country, which reminded me of scenes at home. At nine o'clock we came to the brink of a magnificent ravine, and winding down by a steep descent of more than fifteen hundred feet, the mountains closed around us and formed an amphitheatre. At the bottom of the ravine was a rough wooden bridge crossing a narrow stream running between perpendicular rocks a hundred and fifty feet high, very picturesque, and reminding me of Trenton Falls.

We ascended by a steep road to the top of the ravine, where a long house stood across the road, so as to prevent all passing except directly through it. It is called La Garita, and commands the road from the port to the capital. Officers are stationed here to take an account of merchandise and to examine passports. The one then in command had lost an arm in the service of his country, i. e., in a battle between his own town and another fifteen miles off, and the place was given to him as a reward for his patriotic services.

As we advanced the country improved, and for a league before entering Alihuela it was lined on both sides with houses three or four hundred yards apart, built of sundried bricks, whitewashed, and the fronts of some were ornamented with paintings. Several had chalked in red on each side of the door the figure of a soldier, with his musket shouldered and bayonet fixed, large as life and stiff as a martinet.