MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



507 



advanced with increased rapidity. 

 I still felt much pain in my knee, 

 and through the whole of my leg; 

 but as we were walking on 

 level ground it was nothing to 

 equal that which I experienced 

 when ascending the side of the 

 hill. 



We hoped shortly to reach the 

 forest, in the heart of which we 

 intended to pass the day ; but the 

 sailor, VVassiijefF, who accidently 

 looked behind him, suddenly ex- 

 claimed, " they are pursuing us 

 on horseback with lanterns.'' — 

 With these words he quicklj' 

 descended into a hollow on one 

 side of the road. On looking 

 round, we perceived some lights 

 which appeared to be at no great 

 distance from us. We imme- 

 diately followed the example of 

 WassiijefF, and precipitated our- 

 selves into a deep hollow. We 

 descended to a considerable dis- 

 tance without finding either a 

 tree or thicket under which we 

 could conceal ourselves, and day 

 was already beginning to dawn. 

 Had it been broad daylight we 

 might easily have been observed 

 from any of the surrouning hills. 

 We at length reached the bottom 

 of the hollow, which was on every 

 side overhung with naked preci- 

 pices. The hollow itself was 

 covered with thick snow, but no 

 place of concealment presented 

 itself, and the sun had now com- 

 pletely risen. 



We stood still for a few mo- 

 ments, not knowing how to pro- 

 ceed ; at last we perceived a small 

 aperture in a rock, and on ap- 

 proaching it, found that it was 

 a cavity which might, perhaps, 

 though with difficulty, contain us 

 all. A waterfall, which descended 

 from the hill and passed by the 



side of this cavity, had hollowed 

 out a pit about ten feet deep 

 almost directly under it. We 

 were enabled to get near the 

 cavity by advancing along the 

 snow which was very high on the 

 one side. This hole, in which 

 we hoped to find shelter, was 

 situated in the side of a rock, 

 about nine feet from the bottom 

 of the hollow, but the cataract 

 had driven away so much of the 

 snow, that it was with the greatest 

 difficulty we could reach the 

 aperture, our only assistance in 

 climbing being a small tree which 

 grew beside it. Had any of us 

 missed a step, or had the tree 

 failed to support our weight, we 

 might have been precipitated into 

 the pit, from which we could not 

 easily have extricated ourselves. 

 With ray lame leg, it would have 

 been next to impossible for me 

 to have got out. We, however, 

 succeeded in reaching the hole ia 

 safety. 



"WTien in it, we found that we 

 had not sufficient room to sit 

 down, and our grotto was, be- 

 sides, half filled with a kind of 

 sand stones, of which the whole 

 hill was composed. Many of the 

 stones lay with their sharp points 

 and edges upwards, and we dared 

 not to stir without the greatest 

 caution, as there was a consider- 

 able slope towards the mouth of 

 the hole; and had any of the 

 stones given way, we might have 

 rolled out along with them. We 

 could neither lie down nor stretch 

 out our feet, but were obliged to 

 rest ourselves first on one elbow, 

 and then on the other. In other 

 respects our hiding place was 

 well adapted to our purpose. 

 The Japanese could not have 

 traced us to it from any distance. 



jor 



