Chapter V. 



hand. On the dUrt side of the boulder the guides, Ijy (Unt 

 of displacing large rocks with their ice-axes and working- 

 hard at levelling, had made room for their own tents. 



Every time that anyone stepped out of the camp he 

 would sink into the mud. It was impossible to circulate 

 between the tents without nailed boots, because the moment 

 that you came out a sort of mountain-climbing gymnastic 

 began, where it was necessary to hold on tigjit at every 

 step. 



The mean temperature was from 39° to 41° F. At night 

 it generally fell to 33°-34°, and sometimes to freezing point. 

 The dampness, however, was far more trying than the cold. 



One event alone would occasionally relieve the tedium, 

 namely, the arrival of the post. The letters were brought 

 up by swift comners — wrapped up carefully in banana leaves, 

 and stuck in the end of a cleft cane. 



Now and again the camp would be filled with pungent 

 smoke, extremely irritating to the eyes and chest, which 

 came from the fii'es lit by the Bakonjo in the underground 

 cavities between tlie boulders. They liuddled together all 

 day long in these dens, where tliey liad not room to stretch 

 themselves out at length, and ate or smoked incessantly when 

 they were not asleep. Their real providence was the fire. 

 They never left it except when called away, and rushed back 

 to squat around it as soon as they were no longer required. 

 They carried it about with them from jjlace to place, using a 

 sort of dry fiuigus which remains kindled like tinder, and which 

 they keep in a case made of banana leaves. The moment a 

 halt was called during a march, in less than no time the natives 

 would have kindled a fire and be enjoying a fine blaze and 

 smoking their pipes, and it was not always easy to induce 



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