by Daniel Defoe
the passages and valleys which he had told meso much of in the mountains; and, if it was possible, which, indeed, Ihad always thought it was not, to take a prospect of the world on theother side.
He told me it was not a light piece of work, and perhaps the discoveriesmight not answer my trouble, there being little to be seen but steepprecipices, inhospitable rocks, and impassable mountains, immuring us onevery side, innumerable rills and brooks of water falling from thecliffs, making a barbarous and unpleasant sound, and that sound echoedand reverberated from innumerable cavities among the rocks, and theseall pouring down into one middle stream, which we should always find onone side or other of us as we went; and that sometimes we should beobliged to pass those middle streams, as well as the rills and brooks onthe sides, without a bridge, and at the trouble of pulling off ourclothes.
He told us that we should meet, indeed, with provisions enough, and withan innocent, harmless people, who, according to their ability, wouldentertain us very willingly; but that I, who was a stranger, would besorely put to it for lodging, especially for so many of us.
However, he said, as he had perhaps at first raised this curiosity inme, by giving me a favourable account of the place, he would be very farfrom discouraging me now; and that, if I resolved to go, he would notonly endeavour to make everything as pleasant to me as he could, butthat he and his major-domo would go along with me, and see us safethrough and safe home again; but desired me not to be in too much haste,for that he must make some little preparation for the journey, which, ashe told us, might perhaps take us up fourteen or sixteen days forward,and as much back again; not, he said, that it was necessary that weshould be so long going and coming, as that he supposed I would taketime to see everything which I might think worth seeing, and not be inso much haste as if I was sent express. I told him he was very much inthe right; that I did not desire to make a thing which I had expected somuch pleasure in, be a toil to me more than needs must; and, above all,that as I supposed I should not return into these parts very soon, Iwould not take a cursory view of a place which I expected would be sowell worth seeing, and let it be known to all I should speak of it to,that I wanted to see it again before I could give a full account of it.
Well, seignior, says he, we will not be in haste, or view it by halves;for, if wild and uncouth places be a diversion to you, I promise myselfyour curiosity shall be fully gratified; but as to extraordinary things,rarities in nature, and surprising incidents, which foreigners expect, Icannot say much to those. However, what think you, seignior, says he, ifwe should take a tour a little way into the entrance of the hills whichI showed you the other day, and look upon the gate of this gulf? Perhapsyour curiosity may be satisfied with the first day's prospect, which Iassure you will be none of the most pleasant, and you may find yourselfsick of the enterprise.
I told him, no; I was so resolved upon the attempt, since he, who I wassatisfied would not deceive me, had represented it as so feasible, andespecially since he had offered to conduct me through it, that I wouldnot, for all the gold that was in the mountains, lay it aside. He shookhis head at that expression, and, smiling at the doctor, says he, Thisgentleman little thinks that there is more gold in these mountains, nay,even in this part where we are, than there is above ground in the wholeworld. Partly understanding what he said, I answered, my meaning was tolet him see that nothing could divert me from the purpose of viewing theplace, unless he himself forbade me, which I hoped he would not; andthat, as for looking a little way into the passage, to try if the horrorof the place would put a check to my curiosity, I would not give himthat trouble, seeing, the more terrible and frightful, the moredifficult and impracticable it was, provided it could be mastered atlast, the more it would please me to attempt and overcome it.
Nay, nay, seignior, said he, pleasantly, there is nothing difficult orimpracticable in it, nor is it anything but what the country people, andeven some of our nation, perform every day; and that not only bythemselves, either for sport in pursuit of game, but even with droves ofcattle, which they go with from place to place, as to a market or afair; and, therefore, if the horror of the cliffs and precipices, thenoises of the volcanos, the fire, and such things as you may hear andsee above you, will not put a stop to your curiosity, I assure you, youshall not meet with anything impassable or impracticable below, noranything but, with the assistance of God and the Blessed Virgin (andthen he crossed himself, and so we did all), we shall go cheerfullyover.
Finding, therefore, that I was thus resolutely bent upon the enterprise,but not in the least guessing at my design, he gave order to haveservants and mules provided, for mules are much fitter to travel amongthe hills than horses; and, in four days he promised to be ready for amarch.
I had nothing to do in all these four days but to walk abroad, and, aswe say, look about me; but I took this opportunity to give instructionsto my two midshipmen, who were called my servants, in what they were todo.
First, I charged them to make landmarks, bearings, and beacons, as wemight call them, upon the rocks above them, and at every turning in theway below them, also at the reaches and windings of the rivers andbrooks, falls of water, and everything remarkable, and to keep each ofthem separate and distinct journals of those things, not only to findthe way back again by the same steps, but that they might be able tofind that way afterwards by themselves, and without guides, which wasthe foundation and true intent of all the rest of my undertaking; and,as I knew these were both capable to do it, and had courage and fidelityto undertake it, I had singled them out for the attempt, and had madethem fully acquainted with my whole scheme, and, consequently, they knewthe meaning and reason of my present discourse with them. They promisednot to fail to show me a plan of the hills, with the bearings of everypoint, one with another, where every step was to be taken, and everyturning to the right hand or to the left, and such a journal, I believe,was never seen before or since, but it is too long for this place. Ishall, however, take out the heads of it as I proceed, which may serveas a general description of the place.
The evening of the fourth day, as he had appointed, my friend, theSpaniard, let me know, that he was ready to set out, and accordingly webegan our cavalcade. My retinue consisted of six, as before, and we hadmules provided for us; my two midshipmen, as servants, had two mulesgiven them also for their baggage, the Spaniard had six also, viz., hisgentleman, or, as I called him before, his major-domo, on horseback,that is to say, on muleback, with mules for his baggage, and fourservants on foot. Just before we set out, his gentleman brought each ofus a fuzee, and our two servants each a harquebuss, or short musket,with cartouches, powder, and ball, together with a pouch and small shot,such as we call swan-shot, for fowls or deer, as we saw occasion.
I was as well pleased with this circumstance as with any my landlord haddone, because I had not so entire a confidence in the native Chilians ashe had; but I saw plainly, some time after, that I was wrong, fornothing could be more honest, quiet, and free from design, than thosepeople, except the poor honest people where we dressed up the king andqueen, as already mentioned.
We were late in the morning before we got out, having all this equipageto furnish, and, travelling very gently, it was about two hours beforesunset when we came to the entrance of the mountains, where, to mysurprise, I found we were to go in upon a level, without any ascent, atleast that was considerable. We had, indeed, gone up upon a sharpascent, for near two miles, before we came to the place.
The entrance was agreeable enough, the passage being near half a milebroad. On the left hand was a small river, whose channel was deep, butthe water shallow, there having been but little rain for some time; thewater ran very rapid, and, as my Spaniard told me, was sometimesexceeding fierce. The entrance lay inclining a little south, and was sostraight, that we could see near a mile before us; but the prodigiousheight of the hills on both sides, and before us, appearing one overanother, gave such a prospect of horror, that I confess it was frightfulat first to look on the stupendous altitude of the ro
cks; everythingabove us looking one higher than another was amazing; and to see how insome places they hung over the river, and over the passage, it created adread of being overwhelmed with them.
The rocks and precipices of the Andes, on our right hand, had here andthere vast cliffs and entrances, which looked as if they had beendifferent thoroughfares; but, when we came to look full into them, wecould see no passage at the farther end, and that they went off inslopes, and with gulleys made by the water, which, in hasty rains, camepouring down from the hills, and which, at a distance, made such noisesas it is impossible to conceive, unless by having seen and heard thelike before; for the water, falling from a height twenty times as highas our own Monument, and, perhaps, much higher, and meeting in thepassage with many dashes and interruptions, it is impossible to describehow the sound, crossing and interfering, mingled itself, and the severalnoises sunk one into another, increasing the whole, as the many watersjoining increased the main
