i849-] ASCENT OF THE MOUNTAIN. 103 



where the cave and picture-writings were to be found. Now, 

 however, we saw the whole summit completely covered with 

 the same gigantic masses of rock and the same coarse rigid 

 vegetation which had rendered our ascent so difficult, and 

 made our proceeding for miles along similar ground quite out 

 of the question. Our only remedy was to descend on the 

 other side into the sandy plain which extended along its base. 

 We first took a good view of the prospect which spread out 

 before us, a wide undulating plain covered with scattered 

 trees and shrubs, with a yellow sandy soil and a brownish 

 vegetation. Beyond this were seen, stretching out to the 

 horizon, a succession of low conical and oblong hills, studding 

 the distant plain in every direction. Not a house was to be 

 seen, and the picture was one little calculated to impress the 

 mind with a favourable idea of the fertility of the country or 

 the beauty of tropical scenery. Our descent was very pre- 

 cipitous. Winding round chasms, creeping under overhanging 

 rocks, clinging by roots and branches, we at length reached 

 the bottom, and had level ground to walk on. 



We now saw the whole side of the mountain, along its 

 summit, split vertically into numerous rude columns, in all 

 of which the action of the atmosphere on the different strata 

 of which they were composed was more or less discernible. 

 They diminished and increased in thickness as the soft and 

 hard beds alternated, and in some places appeared like globes 

 standing on pedestals, or the heads and bodies of huge giants. 

 They did not seem to be prismatic, but to be the result of suc- 

 cessive earthquake shocks, producing vertical cracks in cross 

 directions, the action of the sun and rains then widening the 

 fissures and forming completely detached columns. 



As we proceeded along the sands we found the heat very 

 oppressive. We had finished the water in our gourd, and 

 knew not where to get more. Our Indian told us there was 

 a spring halfway up the mountain, a little further on, but it 

 might now have failed, as it was the height of the dry season. 



We soon came in sight of the spot, and a group of Mauritia 

 palms, which always grow in damp places, as well as some 

 patches of brilliant green herbage, gave us hope. On reaching 

 the palms we found a moist, boggy soil, but such a slow 

 filtering of water among the weeds that it took nearly half an 

 hour to fill our gourd. Seeing a mass of green at the very 



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