36 NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP, xv ' 



the best in the country. At the commencement it 

 was pretty level, though very muddy in places, and 

 much obstructed by roots of trees and even by 

 fallen trunks stretching across the path ; while 

 overhead the branches and twiners hung so low 

 that I was compelled every now and then to duck 

 my head to avoid a fate similar to that of Absalom. 

 They who opened the road had never calculated 

 that a long fellow like myself would have to 

 traverse it. Farther on were ups and downs 

 strewed with stones and often skirting declivities. 

 We traversed three considerable streams, tributaries 

 of the Cumbasa. The track invariably led straight 

 down to the water without any winding, and the 

 mules partly slid, partly walked down. 



