" *4 In some places,
the rocky ridges were so precipitous, that steps were cut in them
for the travellers; and though the sides were protected by heavy
stone balustrades or parapets, it was with the greatest
difficulty that the horses were enabled to scale them. The road
was frequently crossed by streams, over which bridges of wood and
sometimes of stone were thrown; though occasionally, along the
declivities of the mountains, the waters swept down in such
furious torrents, that the only method of passing them was by the
swinging bridges of osier, of which, till now, the Spaniards had
had little experience. They were secured on either bank to heavy
buttresses of stone. But as they were originally designed for
nothing heavier than the foot-passenger and the llama, and, as
they had something exceedingly fragile in their appearance, the
Spaniards hesitated to venture on them with their horses.
Experience, however, soon showed they were capable of bearing a
much greater weight; and though the traveller, made giddy by the
vibration of the long avenue, looked with a reeling brain into
the torrent that was tumbling at the depth of a hundred feet or
more below him, the whole of the cavalry effected their passage
without an accident. At these bridges, it may be remarked, they
found persons stationed whose business it was to collect toll for
the government from all travellers. *5
[Footnote 4: "El camino de las sierras es cosa de ver, porque en
verdad en tierra tan fragosa en la cristiandad no se han visto
tan hermosos caminos, toda la mayor parte de calzada.
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