A CIIEEELESS NIGHT. 49 



cipitous cliffs, and, bruised and exhausted, would land at 

 the base of the opposite slope. Under these severe exer- 

 tions one of the party gave out completely, and another 

 was bitten on the hand by a tnapanase^ a venomoiis ser- 

 pent, the effects of which caused a frightful swelling of the 

 v/ounded member, but was prevented from proving fatal 

 by the application of liquid ammonia, an antidote we al- 

 ways took the precaution to be provided with.* Ex- 

 cepting coffee, early in the morning, we had taken nothing 

 since the day previous, and we had brought nothing with 

 us ; all our outer garments were left behind, and those we 

 wore were not the better after our experiences of the day. 

 Darkness at last terminated our wanderings, when we 

 threw ourselves down upon the stony bank of a moun- 

 tain-torrent Avhich came thundering down from the granitic 

 rocks that were piled above, with a roar that made the 

 surrounding hills tremble. Our scanty clothing protected 

 us but poorly against the chilling atmosphere of the moun- 

 tains, so that we suffered severely from the cold. The 

 spray from the stream rendered more chilly the air, and 

 a heavy storm, whose rising was indicated by a deeper 

 darkness and stronger gusts of wind through the forest, 

 threatened, for a time, to add to our discomfort ; but for- 

 tunately it swept over with only a slight dash of rain. 

 Morning at length came. One of the party during the 

 night had unconsciously crawled to the edge of a preci- 

 pice, and there stretched himself upon some bushes and 

 tangled vines, where a single incautious move or an open- 



* This specific is employed with success by the natives for the bite of 

 all venomous serpents. It is also useful for the stings of poisonous in- 

 sects, and no traveller to the tropics should be unprovided with this sim- 

 ple means of security against the evil effects of venomous creatures 

 which inhabit those regions. Dr. Fayrer, of Calcutta, has, however, in a 

 very interesting series of experiments, shown that ammonia cannot coun- 

 teract the virulent poison of the cobra. 



