. A flying trip to the tropics. A record of an ornithological visit to the United States of Colombia, South America and to the island of Curaçao, West Indies, in the year 1892 . n. If thetrunks did not balance, the lighter one was made heavier by tyingstones to it. The mules have no other harness than a pair ofpillow-like pads, which are furnished with both breast-straps andbreeching. When all are loaded, they are started off by the drivers,or arrieros, who follow on foot, keep the herd moving, and drivein the stragglers. The arrieros keep up a continual whooping andwhistling, so that the mule
. A flying trip to the tropics. A record of an ornithological visit to the United States of Colombia, South America and to the island of Curaçao, West Indies, in the year 1892 . n. If thetrunks did not balance, the lighter one was made heavier by tyingstones to it. The mules have no other harness than a pair ofpillow-like pads, which are furnished with both breast-straps andbreeching. When all are loaded, they are started off by the drivers,or arrieros, who follow on foot, keep the herd moving, and drivein the stragglers. The arrieros keep up a continual whooping andwhistling, so that the mules may know that they are close behind,applying to them a choice selection of epithets, — animalito, mula del diabolo, etc. The loads are continually slipping, andwhen they slip must be rearranged at once. The arrieros are very THE MULE ROAD AND GUADUAS. 87 dexterous at this. They throw their poncho over the mules head,to blindfold it, and it stands perfectly quiet until the poncho isremoved. They go along at a pretty good rate, but it is pitifulto see the little creatures staggering under two enormous pack-ing-boxes as large as themselves. Often, when they get a chance. PACK-MULE WITH TKUNKS AND SLEEPING-MATS. to stop, they lie down at once, and then cannot rise without thehelp of the arriero, who is certain to add blows to his aid. Atnumbers of places along the road we saw bones where the pooranimals had died on the way. In this manner all freight is carriedto and from Bogota. We met a great many trains on their waydown to the river. Some came unloaded, to carry back freight, butthe greater part brought down bales of hides or bags of coffee. We finally mounted and started off shortly after eleven, leavingthe baggage to follow on. Alice and I rode horses; the rest weremounted on mules. The saddle, bridle, etc., are spoken of collec-tively in Spanish as la montura. Our saddles had large horns,and were furnished with breast-straps as well as with both crupper 88 A FLYING TRIP
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