After a tiring ride the sun began to decline and illumined the red bare granite mountains that now rose before us, and which we could still have reached; but, as we found grass and water here, and our cattle longed for rest, we halted and made our camp. We were all hungry and tired, and hence enjoyed the capital bear meat, and stretched ourselves before the fire in our buffalo robes, where we awaited the morning without any disturbance. Refreshed, and strengthened, we gazed down from our elevation at the dense clouds which filled the valleys below us, while the dark sky in the east over the mountains continually became redder, until all at once the sun appeared like a burning ball over the distant misty blue range of hills. It shot a few golden red beams over the awakening earth, and quickly rising poured its fiery stream of light over the world. From the sea of mist beneath us the sharp howling of the jaguars reached us, and we saw a long train of rapid antelopes, probably flying before these beasts of prey, darting over a hill that emerged from it. We had soon finished breakfast, and the mist in the valleys had not entirely dispersed, when we guided our horses up the hill of granite before us. The air was so cool that we buttoned up our jackets, and pulled over our laps the part of our saddle-cloths hanging over the holsters. Before us the mountains illumined by the morning sun rose ever higher and higher, while the valleys between them were wooded and seemed to contain a great many evergreen oaks. Our path ran at a rather great height along precipices, and it was not till noon that we crossed a ridge, where a valley ran across before us, and we were compelled to go down to it. This valley, which was not more than three miles broad, surprised us by its peculiarly beautiful appearance: it was literally covered with rocks of the most gigantic size, which lay near and on each other, as if rained down from the sky. In some places these were so piled up that at a distance they resembled castles with their turrets and keeps. Between these red masses of stone groups of live oaks emerged, and here and there small ponds could be seen glistening.