XXX. 



ADVENTURES BY THE WAY. 



WE journeyed slowly on down the stream. 

 Interesting things happened to us. The 

 impressions of that journey are of two sorts : 

 the little isolated details and the general back- 

 ground of our day's routine, with the gray dawn, 

 the great heats of the day, the blessed evening 

 and its fireflies ; the thundering of heaven's 

 artillery, and the downpour of torrents ; the 

 hot, high, crackling thorn scrub into which we 

 made excursions ; the swift-flowing river with 

 its palms and jungles ; outleaning palms trailing 

 their fronds just within the snatch of the flood 

 waters ; wide flats in the embrace of the river 

 bends, or extending into the low hills, grown thick 

 with lush green and threaded with rhinoceros 

 paths ; the huge sheer cliff mountains over the 

 way ; distant single hills far down. The mild 



discomfort of the start before daylight clearly 



9 



