When
Occasionally A Long Reach Of This Avenue Could Be Beheld, It
Presented A Curious Scene Of Uniformity:
The white line of logs,
narrowing in perspective, became hidden by the gloomy forest,
or terminated in a zigzag which ascended some steep hill.
Although the distance from S. Carlos to Castro is only
twelve leagues in a straight line, the formation of the road
must have been a great labour. I was told that several people
had formerly lost their lives in attempting to cross the
forest. The first who succeeded was an Indian, who cut his
way through the canes in eight days, and reached S. Carlos:
he was rewarded by the Spanish government with a grant of
land. During the summer, many of the Indians wander
about the forests (but chiefly in the higher parts, where the
woods are not quite so thick) in search of the half-wild cattle
which live on the leaves of the cane and certain trees. It
was one of these huntsmen who by chance discovered, a few
years since, an English vessel, which had been wrecked on the
outer coast. The crew were beginning to fail in provisions,
and it is not probable that, without the aid of this man, they
would ever have extricated themselves from these scarcely
penetrable woods. As it was, one seaman died on the march,
from fatigue. The Indians in these excursions steer by the
sun; so that if there is a continuance of cloudy weather, they
can not travel.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 452 of 776
Words from 121028 to 121279
of 208183
