MARCO POLO.

6

417

paragraph is, as I have stated it to be, copied verbatim from a note of my own; but the reader will probably lower the tone of chuckling triumph, which, with no very kindly feeling, he may have exultingly assumed over the Author, when he is given to understand, that the said note was taken from the Travels of Marco Polo,' and those who desire to know all the facts of the subject, may consult Marsden's edition of Marco's Travels, where, from Chapter xxxvi. as also from a note attached to it, they will find that I have rather diminished than exaggerated the account of this monstrous bird, "the existence of which seems to have been universally credited in the East." Indeed, Marco Polo, in his "most noble and famous travels, no lesse pleasaunt than profitable," professes, like other travellers," to give knowledge of strange and marvellous things as they were seen by him; and that which he saw not he declares by report of those that were wise, discrete, and of good credite." Now, although he did not see the bird, he heard of it from those whose credite' could not be doubted; and therefore, according to the dimensions so accurately given, it must have been a very large bird indeed, infinitely

6

418

MARVELLOUS BIRD.

larger than my condor, but still a mere sparrow, compared with another bird equally celebrated, -that which pounced upon the famed steed Bayardo, and parted the combat between Rinaldo and Gradasso

"A bird of wondrous size, and dreadful strength,
And full three yards his bill's enormous length:
His plumes were inky black, of vast extent;
His hooky claws on spoil and ravin bent;
His eyes were fire, and cruel was his look;
And like two sails his ample wings he shook:
Ne'er have I seen, nor heard, in times of old,
Of such a bird*.

nor I either.

* Hoole's Ariosto, B. xxxiii.

POST-HUT OF MAIMARA.

419

CHAPTER XIV.

Wonderful valley.-Abundance of wild fowl.-Situation of the town of Jujui.-Receipt of cash.--Loss of cash.-Desertion. Trait of integrity.-Unworthy consequence.Don Carlos Paulo.-Reverse of fortune.-Happy meeting with an old friend.-Purchase of a birlocho.-Recognition of an old brother officer.-An estate in the neighbourhood of Jujui.-Strange request of a mother and daughter.

JULY 5th. Morning, hard frost; at noon, heat of the sun such as to compel me to throw off poncho, coat, and vest; and at nightfall I was again glad to wrap myself in them all. I arrived by the light of a brilliant moon at the single post-hut of Maimara, where travellers who can be satisfied with the best that can be obtained, may lay themselves down contentedly to rest for the night.

6th. The road led over loose stones and frequently across the stream that winds through the wonderful valley already described. From beyond Humaguaca to Jujui, a distance of nearly

420

*

WONDERFUL VALLEY.

one hundred miles, this road continues in the middle of a deep and narrow channel, that must have been scooped through the rocks and mountains, at some remote period of the world, by means of an irresistible flood, of the power of which the human mind can form no conception; for it has been justly said by a recent traveller, that all the snows of the Andes, simultaneously melted, and rolling onwards with a mighty head at once, could not be equal to the forming such enormous excavations. Yet, that water was the powerful agency it cannot for a moment be doubted; its action is visible up to the loftiest summits of the mountains. Truly the mind is overwhelmed with astonishment at the sight of these stupendous chasms; no language is adequate to describe the mighty magnificence of their conformation, or its effect upon the senses.

In the evening we arrived at El Volcan, a wretched post-hut, where nothing was to be had for love or money; but in the neighbourhood were many cienagas (pools and marshes) covered with wild-fowl, in pursuit of which I sallied forth, with the avidity of a savage, to obtain subsistence by my own dexterity, armed with an old dragoon carbine, which, being an

Captain Andrews' Journey, vol. ii.

WILD-FOWL SHOOTING.

421

engine of wrath expressly manufactured for the destruction of man, was consequently never intended to contribute to the maintenance of his life by the amusement of sporting. But no sooner did I arrive at one of the cienagas, than all doubts as to good gun and good cheer vanished, for the abundance of game was such as to require neither double-barrelled Manton, nor a proficient in the art of shooting, to insure success. I fired, that is to say, I pulled my trigger, but that, indeed, is not to say what I expected, for I expected to see ducks, teal, widgeon, and I know not what besides, tumble in dozens and dozens at my feet. Unaccustomed to receive injury from man, the birds hovered in dense clouds round me, and seemed, in addition to their acquired confidence, to be aware of the harmlessness of the instrument with which they were threatened, and they actually passed so close, that the wind from ten thousand wings fanned me whilst I stood, up to the middle, in the marsh, snap, snap, snapping, my wretched lock and fireless flint, in the vain and greedy hope of obtaining, by one single shot, a superabundant meal for myself and peones. I need not mention the mood of mind in which I returned to the post-hut, half a league distant, to try if change of flint would occasion change of luck;