The road towards the heights was sufficiently good and easy; we were little disturbed by the heat, and brooks caused by the thawing of snow-fields afforded us most grateful refreshment.
In the middle of the day we took an hour's nap under the shady trees beside a gushing stream; then we proceeded to climb the heights.

As we journeyed onwards the trees became fewer and farther between, until at length no soil was left in which they could grow.
The way was so confined by chasms and abysses on the one side, and walls of rock on the other, that there was scarcely room for a horse to pass.

Suddenly a loud voice before us cried, "Halt!" Startled by the sound, we looked up to find that the call came from a soldier, who was escorting a woman afflicted with the plague from a village where she had been the first victim of the terrible disease to another where it was raging fearfully.

It was impossible to turn aside; so the soldier had no resource but to drag the sick person some paces up the steep rocky wall, and then we had to pass close by her.

The soldier called out to us to cover our mouths and noses.
He himself had anointed the lower part of his face with tar, as a preventive against contagion.
This was the first plague-stricken person I had seen; and as we were compelled to pass close by her, I had an opportunity of observing the unfortunate creature closely.