The line was so drawn out, that there were unavoidably
many intervals, and it was easy for such mistakes to occur, although
trumpeters were placed at regular distances expressly to prevent
separation. One party was frequently heard hallowing from an apparently
fathomless ravine, to their comrades passing over some high projecting
summit, to know if they were going right. These would answer with their
trumpets; but it often occurred that both parties had lost their road. The
frequent sound of trumpets along the broken line--the shouting of officers
to their men at a distance--the neighing of horses, and the braying of
mules, both men and animals being alike anxious to reach a place of rest,
produced a strange and fearful concert, echoed, in the darkness of the
night, from the horrid solitude of the Andes. After many fruitless
attempts to discover the proper route, a halt until daybreak was usually
the last resource. The sufferings of the men and animals on those
occasions were extreme. The thermometer was generally below the freezing
point, amidst which they were sometimes overtaken by terrific snow-storms.
These difficulties and hardships were not so severely felt by the
infantry, for, unincumbered with the charge of horses, it was an easy
matter for them to turn back, whereas it was often impossible for the
cavalry to do so, the path on the mountain-side being generally too narrow
to admit of horses turning round.
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