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X ix IN THE ECUADOREAN ANDES 219
Canelos, and which consisted of a few trunks of
trees covered with bushes and earth.
In the following " note " of a visit to Penipe-
a hill-village near Riobamba a much more perilous
kind of bridge, common in the Andes, is described.]
" The distance from Riobamba is about 4
leagues. The road leads a little to the south of
Guano ;
at near half-way it passes some low flats in-
undated in winter, or interspersed with small lagoons,
now (February) mostly left dry, and covered with a
whitish saline deposit. In places where moisture
is preserved there are beds of tall Cyperacea
(Scirpzts validus], of which mats are plaited. After
passing this the road ascends gradually to a consider-
able elevation (about 1 500 feet above Riobamba),
whence there is a splendid view of the western side
of Tunguragua, which is its most striking aspect.
The top of the ridge reached, there is a long descent
to the river Pastasa, with a narrow plateau about
midway, along
which the roacl runs for some distance
parallel to the river. At last there is a steep wind-
ing descent to the hanging bridge of Penipe, which
is formed by cables made of roots of Agave, 4 inches
thick, stretched as in an ordinary suspension bridge ;
and the roadway consists of sticks tied across the
cables. These sticks should be flattened and touch-
ing each other, but many of them are left in their
original rotundity, and they
arc sometimes wide
enough apart for a foot to slip between. The bridge
sways to and fro when the wind is high, and
oscillates fearfully as one passes over it. It has
also become lower on one side, and several sticks
are slipping away on that side. A rope is stretched
on each side at some height above the bridge ;
its