n little more than
three minutes.

Mr Laffan having carried away some of the water, afterwards analysed
it, and found it to be composed of sulphur and salt. On being exposed
to the sun, the sulphur evaporated, and left pure white salt fit for
use.

After leaving the spring, we continued some way further towards the Rio
Vinaigre, or Vinegar River. On our road we passed several Indian huts
perched on the summits of precipices which appeared perfectly
inaccessible; but, of course, there were narrow paths by which the
inhabitants could climb up to their abodes. They naturally delight in
these gloomy and solitary situations, and had sufficient reasons for
selecting them: for they were here free from the attacks of wild beasts
or serpents, and also from their cruel masters the Spaniards, who were
accustomed to drag them away to work in the mines, to build
fortifications, or to serve in the ranks of their armies.

Dismounting, we climbed up a zig-zag path, to pay a visit to one of
these Indian abodes which was less difficult to reach than the rest,
although a couple of well-armed men, supplied with a store of rocks,
could from the summit have kept a whole army at bay. The hut was the
abode of an old Indian, the descendant of the chief of a once powerful
tribe. We found him leaning against the sunny side of his house, and
holding on to a long staff with which he supported himself. He was
dressed in a large broad-brimmed hat, a poncho over his shoulders, and
sandals on his feet. His projecting, dropping lower jaw exhibited the
few decayed teeth he had in his head, which, with his lustreless eyes,
made him look the very picture of decrepitude. He brightened up and
rose, however, as he saw Uncle Richard,--with whom he was acquainted,
and who had frequently shown him kindness,--and welcomed us to his
abode.

The thatched hut was diminutive, and full of smoke, as there was but one
small hole in the roof by which it could escape. Some distance behind
it, and separated by a wide chasm, over which a bamboo bridge had been
thrown, was a wide level space, with mountains rising above it, on which
sheep and goats were feeding--the fields fenced round by a shrub called
el lechero, or milk-tree, which derives its name from a white liquid
oozing out of it when a branch is broken off. This liquid, however, is
sharp and caustic. The sticks, about six feet in height, throw out
young shoots like the osier, and when pruned become v