During the rainy season travel becomes troublesome on all roads and
impossible on many. On the unimproved highways deep, dangerous bogs
form in every depression, containing either liquid mud where the horse
is almost forced to swim, or soft tough clay, where the horse's feet
are imprisoned and the animal in its desperate efforts to jerk itself
free indulges in contortions anything but pleasant for the rider. The
horses and cargo animals ever treading in each other's footsteps,
cause the earth to wear away in furrows across the road, which fill
with water and with mud of all colors and conditions of toughness.
With few interruptions the monotonous splash, splash, splash of
horses' feet constantly accompanies the traveler. The first ten
minutes of such a journey on slippery ground make the trip appear an
adventure, the next ten an experience, but after that the expedition
becomes exceedingly wearisome. In the dry season all moisture
disappears and the ridges between the mud trenches become hard as
brick. The efforts of travelers to avoid bad places by going around
them has caused the roads to become very wide in places--the width
varying from one to over a hundred feet.
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