{235} It was most
unpleasant to see the guide's horse straining and scrambling,
looking every now and then as if about to fall over backwards. My
horse went up wisely and nobly, but slipping, jumping, scrambling,
and sending stones over the ledge, now and then hanging for a second
by his fore feet. The higher we went the narrower and worse it
grew. The girth was loose, so as not to impede the horse's
respiration, the broad cinch which usually passes under the body
having been fastened round his chest, and yet it was once or twice
necessary to run the risk of losing my balance by taking my left
foot out of the stirrup to press it against the horse's neck to
prevent it from being crushed, while my right hung over the
precipice. We came to a place where the path had been carried away,
leaving a declivity of loose sand and gravel. You can hardly
realize how difficult it was to dismount, when there was no margin
outside the horse. I somehow slid under him, being careful not to
turn the saddle, and getting hold of his hind leg, screwed myself
round carefully behind him. It was alarming to see these sure-
footed creatures struggle and slide in the deep gravel as though
they must go over, and not less so to find myself sliding, though I
was grasping my horse's tail.
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