Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 August 1880 — The Pleasures of the Andes. [ARTICLE]

The Pleasures of the Andes.

Ike leaves cut like razors, and their points pierce like needles. The mountains hereabouts are everywhere saturated like sponges, through the incessant rains aad for days we waded rather than walked over them. The puma, tapir, and bean are common around Baraufcu, and their tracks are very numerous. I saw one magnificent brer crashing through toe cane as though it quite enjoyed it, and others of my party saw tapirs. One morning we found puma tracks round our tent, but we did not see the brute.

Wild and savage cattle are also numerous around Barauicu, and are sometimes of great size and power. They are da esped cattle or the descendants of escaped cattle, from the forma around Cayambe, and are sometimes very ferocious. There were two immense bulls that we saw several times, which trotted about at an amazing pace, and took leaps like chamois. J. A. Carrel was out one day trying to do a little bit of exploration, and was attacked from the rear by these beasts. He was looking over a precipice, peering into the fog, when hearing some noise behind he turned round and saw them approaching from opposite directions with lowered heads, ready to give him a lift over. He bolted up a little >rok, with both close m pursuit, and they kept him a prisoner for, 1 think, a couple of hour*. Whenever he tried to escape they rushed at hint, but at last he succeeded by 4 feint in enticing them both to the same side, and scrambled down the other and outwitted them.— B. Whgmper't Letter in Th* Spectator .