We Now Began To Descend The Valley By A Broad And Excellent
Carretera Or Carriage Road, Which Was Cut Out Of The Steep Side Of
The Mountain On Our Right.
On our left was the gorge, down which
tumbled the runnel of water which I have before mentioned.
The
road was tortuous, and at every turn the scene became more
picturesque. The gorge gradually widened, and the brook at its
bottom, fed by a multitude of springs, increased in volume and in
sound, but it was soon far beneath us, pursuing its headlong course
till it reached level ground, where it flowed in the midst of a
beautiful but confined prairie. There was something sylvan and
savage in the mountains on the farther side, clad from foot to
pinnacle with trees, so closely growing that the eye was unable to
obtain a glimpse of the hill sides, which were uneven with ravines
and gulleys, the haunts of the wolf, the wild boar, and the corso,
or mountain-stag; the latter of which, as I was informed by a
peasant who was driving a car of oxen, frequently descended to feed
in the prairie, and were there shot for the sake of their skins,
for their flesh, being strong and disagreeable, is held in no
account.
But notwithstanding the wildness of these regions, the handiworks
of man were visible. The sides of the gorge, though precipitous,
were yellow with little fields of barley, and we saw a hamlet and
church down in the prairie below, whilst merry songs ascended to
our ears from where the mowers were toiling with their scythes,
cutting the luxuriant and abundant grass.
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