A PECULIAR DANGER. 191 



ger menaced the hunters' camp. The peculiar for- 

 mation of the mountain caused great masses of rock 

 to split off, owing to the action of the water, and 

 immense bowlders were continually rolling down into 

 the canon. The stillness of the mountain would sud- 

 denly be broken by an explosion resembling the rattle 

 of musketry, and then a great mass of rocks would 

 lean out from the face of the cliff and topple over, 

 falling, rolling, and tumbling to the bottom and 

 sometimes going as far as the river. These rock 

 slides would crush everything before them, and im- 

 mense trees and bowlders were torn from their foun- 

 dations and hurled with the force of an avalanche 

 to the bottom. 



This was very dangerous, for if such a slide ever 

 struck camp there would be nothing left to tell the 

 tale. One incident convinced the naturalist that he 

 could not get away too soon. It was after mid- 

 night when Dyche was aroused by a peculiar roaring 

 and rumbling noise directly above their heads on 

 the side of the mountain. The two men were out of 

 their sleeping-bags in an instant, and a run of thirty 

 yards placed them behind an immense tree which had 

 previously been selected for just such an emergency. 

 The tree was over five feet in diameter, but even 

 then Dyche feared that it would not withstand the 

 terrible force of the rocks. An immense landslide 

 had broken loose half a mile above the camp and 

 came roaring down with the speed of an express 

 train. It passed a few feet to the south of the 

 camp and expended its force among the bowlders 

 and in the river. Sleep was over for that night, 



