I.] ASCENT OF A GORGE. 9 



(_)n our return we crossed our old track by the side of the little 

 stream, and, to our astonishment, came upon the fresh footprint of 

 a native who had evidently been reconnoitring our movements. 

 Possibly he had foreseen that there might be some difficulty in 

 adding the four white heads to his collection ; possibly he was not 

 un^villing that his friends should share in the amusement. At any 

 rate he had disappeared, no very difficult matter in the thick 

 bush around us, and we saw no further trace of any human being, 

 although, some little distance beyond, we came upon the ruins of an 

 evidently long-deserted hut. On getting to the beach we found 

 the surf too high to admit of liringing in the boat, and accordingly 

 had to swim out to it ; an operation that, with our guns and other 

 gear, was a somewhat protracted one, though greatly facilitated l»y 

 a life-belt and line, which had been brought in case of need. The 

 wind and sea had increased considerably since the morning, and 

 our prolonged absence caused no little anxiety to those on board. 

 The signal guns that had been fired for the recall of the party had 

 l)een inaudible, a contingency that had never been suspected, and 

 it was feared that the delay in our appearance might be due to a 

 collision with the natives. 



From a naturalist's point of view the excursion had been a 

 failure. One solitary bird only had been seen, and, but for a large 

 snake ^ which had been caught napping among the hot stones in 

 the bed of the valley, our game bag would have been empty. As 

 it was, however, it was most uncomfortably full, for the creature 

 measured nearly nine feet in length and was of very respectable 

 thickness. Other game there was none to be seen, although spoor 

 both of deer and wdld cat appeared tolerably abundant, and 

 to judge by the numbers we had seen captive in Samasana, the 

 former must be in some parts extremely common. We had hoped 

 to obtain it, and possibly also Swinhoe's deer, another species 

 peculiar to the island, Imt the absence of anchorages and the 



^ A very handsome species, wliicli I have failed to identify, the under surface 

 golden yellow, and the back dark, shot with bright opalescent reflections. 



