" The law
provides that the vaccheros shall station one of their number at the
head of a gulch to give notice when cattle are to pass through.
We jogged on again till we met a native who told us that we were
quite close to our destination; but there were no signs of it, for
we were still on the lofty uplands, and the only prominent objects
were huge headlands confronting the sea. I got off to walk, as my
mule seemed footsore, but had not gone many yards when we came
suddenly to the verge of a pali, about 1,000 feet deep, with a
narrow fertile valley below, with a yet higher pali on the other
side, both abutting perpendicularly on the sea. I should think the
valley is not more than three miles long, and it is walled in by
high inaccessible mountains. It is in fact, a gulch on a vastly
enlarged scale. The prospect below us was very charming, a fertile
region perfectly level, protected from the sea by sandhills, watered
by a winding stream, and bright with fishponds, meadow lands, kalo
patches, orange and coffee groves, figs, breadfruit, and palms.
There were a number of grass-houses, and a native church with a
spire, and another up the valley testified to the energy and
aggressiveness of Rome.
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