A TRIAL OF PATIENCE 93 



side. The crossing of this place reminded me of the 

 tight-rope walker going over Niagara. It was a good 

 thing none of us was subject to giddiness, and that the 

 dogs did not know exactly what the result of a false 

 step would be. 



On the other side of this bridge we began to go 

 downhill, and our course now lay in a long valley 

 between lofty undulations on each side. It tried our 

 patience severely to advance here, as the line of the 

 hollow was fairly long and ran due west. We tried 

 several times to lay our course towards the south and 

 clamber up the side of the undulation, but these efforts 

 did not pay us. We could always get up on to the 

 ridge, but we could not come down again on the other 

 side; there was nothing to be done but to follow the 

 natural course of the valley until it took us into the 

 tract lying to the south. It was especially the drivers 

 whose patience was sorely tried, and I could see them 

 now and then take a turn up to the top of the ridge, 

 not satisfied with the exploration Hassel and I had 

 made. But the result was always the same; they had 

 to submit to Nature's caprices and follow in our tracks. 



Our course along this natural line was not entirely 

 free from obstruction; crevasses of various dimensions 

 constantly crossed our path. The ridge or undulation, 

 at the top of which we at last arrived, had quite an 

 imposing effect. It terminated on the east in a steep 

 drop to the underlying surface, and attained at this 



