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Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
In the Monte Grande, the “Great Wilderness” of Bolivia, the commander of the first garrison insisted on sending a boy soldier, with an ancient and rusted Winchester, to “protect” me from the savages
VAGABONDING DOWN THE ANDES
BEING THE NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY, CHIEFLY AFOOT, FROM PANAMA TO BUENOS AIRES
A FOREWORD OF WARNING
A few years ago, when I began looking over the map of the worldagain, I chanced to have just been reading Prescott’s “Conquest ofPeru,” and it was natural that my thoughts should turn to SouthAmerica. My only plan, at the outset, was to follow, if possible, theold military highway of the Incas from Quito to Cuzco. Every traveler,however, knows the tendency of a journey to grow under one’sfeet. This one grew with such tropical luxuriance that before itended I had spent, not eight months, but four full years, and hadcovered not merely the ancient Inca Empire, but all the ten republicsand three colonies of South America.
A considerable portion of this journey was made on foot. Thereader may be moved to ask why. First of all, I formed the habitof walking early in life, developing an inability to depend on othersin my movements. Then, too, the route lay through many regions inwhich no other animal th