of seeing them separate and open out into a valley. Every
few yards some fresh turn frustrated our expectations; and if ever any
pass deserved the name of the "Devil's Gorge," it was the interminable
fissure through which we had been compelled to walk for so long a
distance. At various heights there were half-suspended rocks which
threatened to fall upon us; for several previously had fallen and now
blocked up the path. At last a sudden turn revealed a wide opening; but
our joy was of short duration; nothing but a perpendicular precipice lay
in front of us.

We looked at one another in consternation; we were prisoners! On our
right and left were perpendicular walls more than a hundred feet high,
and impossible to climb; before us there was a gulf with a vertical
precipice. What was to be done? Sumichrast lighted the pipe of council,
while l'Encuerado clung on to the rocks and tried to measure the abyss
with his eye.

We were seated near a plant with slender branches and heart-shaped
leaves tinged with red, concealing here and there a flower of a violet
blue. I recognized in it the shrub which produces jalap, and is called
by the Indians _tolonpatl_. I called Lucien's attention to it, who soon
dug up four or five tap-roots of a pear-like shape. Jalap, which has
taken its name from the town of Jalapa, whence it was once forwarded to
Vera Cruz, grows naturally on all the mountains of the _Terre-Temperee_.
Unfortunately, the Indians destroy the plant by taking away all its
turbercles, and the time is not far distant when this drug, so much used
in Europe, will, like quinine, become very scarce.

I drew close to the precipice, and perceived l'Encuerado more than
twenty feet below me crawling, with all the skill of a monkey, over an
almost smooth surface. I ordered him to come up to us again; but he did
not seem able to get back, and remained motionless in his dangerous
position. Sumichrast hastened to bring me a lasso, which I let down to
our daring companion. But instead of ascending, he slid down four or
five feet, and placing himself astride on the projecting trunk of a
tree, called out to us to let go the lasso; this he tied round a stout
branch, and disappeared down the abyss.

It was not long before we saw him again install himself on the tree
round which he had rolled the leather strap, when he called out to us
that we might descend without any great danger.

"How shall we fasten it?" asked Lucien; "there are no