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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 background 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 down- 

 pour 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 proving the thorns 

 and stumbling blocks; the buoyant cheerfulness of 

 the first part of the day, with the grouse rocketing 

 straight up out of the elephant grass, the birds 



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