1 6o Voyage of the Novara. 



man, named Martin, and his labourers, while on an eminence 

 at a little distance preparations were being made to erect a 

 handsome dwelling-house of wood, whence this skilful shep- 

 herd-prince will be able to overlook his flocks and herds, and 

 delight his eyes with the prospect of his rapidly multiplying 

 horned stock. 



" The road now became narrower and more difficult, the 

 horses too began to find their footing less secure, and it was 

 only by great vigilance that we contrived to ride over the 

 marshy soil, thickly covered with massive roots of forest 

 giants. Enormous trunks of trees that had fallen across the 

 path had to be scrambled over, and the baggage removed 

 from the 23ack-horses and carried forward on men's shoulders. 

 Some of the horses, inured to similar expeditions, clambered 

 nimbly over these obstacles, while for others, more restive 

 or less practised, bridges had to be constructed, which are 

 formed by laying two trunks of trees parallel with each other 

 across the chasm or brook, upon which fern or reeds are 

 placed transversely, and the whole tied together with twigs 

 of liana, so as to afford the animals a firm footing. Occasion- 

 ally this frail apparatus would break through, when the 

 poor horses would disappear below, whence they were only 

 extricated with considerable trouble. 



'' Towards evening the forest began to get less dense, and 

 we entered upon an undulating table-land, covered with 

 ferns. Some columns of smoke, curling upwards at the foot of 

 a hill on the further side, indicated that we were approaching 



