Having thus finally informed myself of things, I began now to think it was high time to have a sight of the particulars which I came to inquire after, viz., the passages of the mountains, and the wonders that were to be discovered on the other side; and, accordingly, I took my patron, the Spaniard, by himself, and told him that as I was a traveller, and was now in such a remote part of the world, he could not but think I should be glad to see everything extraordinary that was to be seen, that I might be able to give some account of the world when I came into Europe, better and differing from what others had done who had been there before me; and that I had a great mind, if he would give me his assistance, to enter into the passages and valleys which he had told me so much of in the mountains; and, if it was possible, which, indeed, I had always thought it was not, to take a prospect of the world on the other side. He told me it was not a light piece of work, and perhaps the discoveries might not answer my trouble, there being little to be seen but steep precipices, inhospitable rocks, and impassable mountains, immuring us on every side, innumerable rills and brooks of water falling from the cliffs, making a barbarous and unpleasant sound, and that sound echoed and reverberated from innumerable cavities among the rocks, and these all pouring down into one middle stream, which we should always find on one side or other of us as we went; and that sometimes we should be obliged to pass those middle streams, as well as the rills and brooks on the sides, without a bridge, and at the trouble of pulling off our clothes. He told us that we should meet, indeed, with provisions enough, and with an innocent, harmless people, who, according to their ability, would entertain us very willingly; but that I, who was a stranger, would be sorely put to it for lodging, especially for so many of us.