During the rainy season travel becomes troublesome on all roads and impossible on many. On the unimproved highways deep, dangerous bogs form in every depression, containing either liquid mud where the horse is almost forced to swim, or soft tough clay, where the horse's feet are imprisoned and the animal in its desperate efforts to jerk itself free indulges in contortions anything but pleasant for the rider. The horses and cargo animals ever treading in each other's footsteps, cause the earth to wear away in furrows across the road, which fill with water and with mud of all colors and conditions of toughness. With few interruptions the monotonous splash, splash, splash of horses' feet constantly accompanies the traveler. The first ten minutes of such a journey on slippery ground make the trip appear an adventure, the next ten an experience, but after that the expedition becomes exceedingly wearisome. In the dry season all moisture disappears and the ridges between the mud trenches become hard as brick. The efforts of travelers to avoid bad places by going around them has caused the roads to become very wide in places--the width varying from one to over a hundred feet. At times, in grassy or stony stretches, the road disappears entirely, and the traveler's best guide is the telegraph wire, where there is one. Again it passes through thorny woods with overhanging branches which continually threaten to unhorse the rider. Thus it winds along, through forests and plains, over fallen logs and trees, beside precipices, down steep banks, across rapid streams. A trip into the interior in Santo Domingo requires a good horse, a strong constitution and a large supply of patience.