In rainy weather the traveled roads are even worse than the unfrequented ones, for the ground is rendered more miry, and the bogs are more frequent. On a highroad near La Vega I arrived at a mudhole where an old man was being rescued by a passer-by from drowning in the liquid mud; I snapped a photograph of the scene when he was still knee-deep. Near the city of Moca there is a slope where many a horse has fallen and thrown its rider on the slippery loam. A friend of mine who for safety's sake alighted from his horse to walk to the other side of the gully, had his foot so tightly lodged in the pasty mud that, in his straining to withdraw it, the foot slipped out of the shoe, which remained as firmly imbedded as before. His posture and predicament were naturally a good deal more amusing for his companions than for himself. Yet some of these roads in dry weather are excellent dirt roads. On a road in the Cibao I made a trip of fifteen miles in the rainy season in five hours of hard riding and arrived with an exhausted horse; six months later when the road was dry I made the same journey comfortably in an hour and a half. On the first of these occasions--it was in the course of a vacation trip for the purpose of studying the country--I happened upon two other travelers and together we floundered for many weary miles through black mud varying from the consistency of soup to that of pudding. The road was indescribably bad, and riders and horses were covered with mire and thoroughly fatigued. That evening at the inn, through the open door between our rooms, I heard my traveling companions discussing me. One of them asked: "What is his object in coming here?" The other answered: "He says he is traveling for pleasure." "Then," responded the first solemnly, "he is either lying or he is insane." The streams must usually be crossed either by fording or by ferry, and not infrequently the horse must swim part of the distance across. Outside the railroad bridges, there are scarcely half a dozen bridges which deserve the name in the Dominican Republic. A good bridge has recently been constructed over the Jaina River on the San Cristobal road, and another was completed in May, 1917, across the Ozama River at Santo Domingo City, in place of one destroyed by a freshet some years ago. Bridges, where there are any, are generally rude logs laid across brooks. When journeying overland it is advisable to take advantage as much as possible of moonlight nights. It is best to rise at two or three o'clock in the morning, ride until about eleven o'clock, then rest for about three hours while the sun is highest, and then continue till evening. Riding at night, however, exposes one to the danger of making too intimate an acquaintance with some mudhole or some low hanging bough or telegraph wire, but these risks can be avoided by vigilance. The hours of dawn are the coolest of the twenty-four, and more distance can be covered with less fatigue than later in the day.