In Europe, where government is necessarily occupied in improving the means of communication, a remedy would easily have been found for this interruption by throwing a bridge across the fissure, but in America it is not so. The governments have something else to do than trouble themselves about the general welfare: in the first place, they have to raise as much money as they can by taxation; and next, defend themselves against _pronunciamentos_ and ambitious men constantly on the watch to overthrow them. The result is, that all goes on as it best can, and each gets out of a hobble, in the best way he can contrive it. Fortunately, the horses and mules, more intelligent than men, have produced a remedy for this neglect, thanks to that instinct of self-preservation which God has bestowed on them. Nothing is more curious than to see the passage of the fissure by a recua of mules. These animals come up gently, stretching over their necks, sounding the ground at each step, and sniffing all around with signs of the most lively alarm. On reaching the edge of the gap, they stiffen their front legs, bend the hind ones, and toss their heads; then all at once they take their spring, and fall on the other side upon all four feet, without ever making a mistake. Still, it is necessary that the man who is astride them should completely lay aside his own will, and abandon them entirely to their infallible instinct. If he attempt to guide them, it is all over: man and steed roll to the bottom of the precipice, which both reach in small pieces. As for the name of the Salto del Frayle or the Monk's Leap, which this spot bears, the following is the motive for it, according to the local chronicle. It is stated (we affirm nothing, and in no way guarantee the veracity of the legend)--it is stated, we say, that a few years after the settlement of the Spaniards in Texas, a Franciscan monk, the Pater Guardian, or Prior, of his monastery, being accused of insulting a maiden whose confessor he was, escaped from the hands of the alguazil sent to seize him, and fled across country. After a very long chase, and when closely pursued by the soldiers, who were furious at their inability to capture him, he reached the edge of this gap. Taking a glance at the abyss, the poor monk felt he was a lost man; recommending his soul to his patron saint, and calling Heaven to bear witness to his innocence, he leaped boldly across. The soldiers who arrived at this moment distinctly saw two angels supporting the monk under the arms, and they laid him in safety upon the other bank.