In Search of an Unknown Race — page 97: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

VAN. 87 bewilderment to come to the surface, and gradually the grandeur of the wonderful mountain scenery swallowed up all other emotions. At first a mere footpath cut through the thick under- brush which covered the lower slopes, woundina zigzag direction up the cliffs. As the sides grew steeper, the ascent became more and more difficult. Yet the llamas toiled patiently on—the peculiar construction of their clawlike hoof enabling them to keep a foothold where nothing else but a chamois or mountain goat could make progress. As the sun disappeared behind the lofty range, send- ing an indescribable glory of gold and crimson flashing among the snowy peaks, the air grew visibly colder. But this, too, had been provided for. From the back of one of the pack animals a heavy bundle was un- strapped and opened. Long warm cloaks woven from the soft wool of the vicuna, or Peruvian goat, were produced, and quickly donned by the entire party. And so on and upward, when lo, a gap or rift in the mountain side revealed itself to the astonished eyes of the three newcomers, through which extended a mili- tary road that was a perfect marvel of engineering. Winding irregularly upward, it had been built across g@reat ravines on solid bridges of stone masonry that had been standing for unnumbered centuries—were standing when Pizarro led his little handful of adven- turers through the wonderful country he had discov- ered. Here, an ascent had been cut through solid ledges. There, the road clung, so to speak, to the face of a precipice. And all the way it was constructed from Eomicbooks,.c¢