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EXPEDITION INTO [Chap. XXIII. 



exploding close above us, was instantly followed by 

 a torrent of rain, which " came dancing to the 

 earth," not in drops, but in continuous streams, and 

 with indescribable violence, during the greater part 

 of the night; the thunder now receding and rum- 

 bling less and less distinctly, but more incessantly 

 among the distant mountains — now pealing in echoes 

 over the nearest hills, and now returning to burst 

 with redoubled violence above our heads. 



-" Far along 



From peak to peak, the rattling crags among, 

 Leapt the wild thunder, not from one lone cloud, 

 But every mountain soon had found a tongue." 



The horses and oxen were presently standing knee 

 deep in water; our followers remained sitting all 

 night in the baggage-waggon, which leaked consider- 

 ably, but our own, being better covered, fortunately 

 resisted the pitiless storm. Sleep was however out 

 of the question, the earth actually threatening to give 

 way under us, and the lightning being so painfully 

 vivid that we were glad to hide our heads under tie 

 pillow. 



Those only who have witnessed the setting in of 

 the south-west monsoon in India, are capable of fully 

 understanding the awful tempest I have attempted 

 to describe. About an hour before dawn its fury 

 began to abate, and at sunrise it was perfectly fine, 

 but the rivers were quite impassable. I proceeded 

 with some of the Hottentots to reconnoitre the pass, 

 but found that it was impassable for waggons, being 

 nothing more than a narrow channel flanked by 



