_ 311 _ and with the loads as they went down. As I was riding a very good mule, with a saddle I had bought in Tabriz, it seemed to me that, because it was lightly loaded for it carried no more than myself, that it could pass with me without my dismounting as the others had. I was afraid of the road on account of the deep snow and my being loaded down with clothes because of the cold. When it the mule began to descend, it slid down over the snow like a lance, and went off with me towards the right-hand shore of the sea, where [the side of] mountain was low and smooth with a steep incline; but miraculously we did not both go down it to be dashed to pieces. I saw that it wanted to get up again, and that my left foot had remained in the stirrup, with my leg hanging over the top of the saddle. I held on tightly to the reins with my right hand and succeeded in preventing it from getting up. With the left with great difficulty I pulled the stirrup from my foot. The shoes I was wearing were very large, so that I could wear inside them two pairs of socks and two pairs of half-breeches, for, because of the great cold, one cannot travel in any other manner. I also wore capaneques which are like cloaks made of wool lined with fur, gloves and
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