Note 444 — Chapter XCI

A few miles beyond the little village of Curahuasi, is the precipitous descent to the bridge over the Apurimac (Apu, “chief,” and rimac, “speaking,” or “a speaker,” in Quichua). A steep zigzag path leads down to the side of the cliff, and at last the precipice becomes so perpendicular that a tunnel has been excavated in the solid rock, about twenty yards long, at the end of which is the bridge. It is made in the same way as that over the river Pampas. The river dashes furiously along between vertical precipices of stupendous height, and a high wind is not uncommon, which blows the frail rope bridge to and fro, rendering the passage very dangerous, and at times impossible.