328 NARRATIVE OF A 



iiine miles below Deir-praao; with wliich T fiiur the 

 juitives have some comnuiiiication in the rainy sea- 

 son ; and through this channel carry on a small traf- 

 fic in iron, grain, &c. in canoes formed from the trunk 

 of large Kiicmcl trees. 



I crossed the river, in knee-deep water, and pitch- 

 ed iny tent under a large mango tree, where two or 

 three trees more afford ample shade for servants of all 

 descriptions. 



The mountains in the neighbourhood of this' val- 

 ley he in kmellated strata of various coloured fissile 

 stones or slate, from a dull clay colour, to ash, bluish 

 black, light brovv'n, and i'crruginous brown;, in some 

 places a vein of white quartz runs through, in an ir- 

 reo'ular direction. 



"O" 



The houses here are covered, wifh a kind, much 

 resembling the common writing slate. 



On the 25th I walked, in two hours and fifteen mi- 

 nutes, to Nataana, a village of five or six houses 

 upon the brov/ of a sloping hill. It looks into an ex- 

 cessive deep valley, formed, by the surrounding hills, 

 into a narrow bottom, resembling an inverted cone, 

 and cultivated in ridges, down their sides, to the very 

 base, 'i'he road from Bclkate ascends gradually, and 

 the elevation here is such as considerably to reduce 

 the temperature of the air. From an accident to my 

 thermometer, I could only estimate this by my sen- 

 sations, which did not indicate a higher degree than 

 eight}'-five at noon. Tlie nativx^s say, it continues 

 thus cool, all the month of yl/c(//, and they seldom, 

 at any tiiiie, experience cxcessise heat. 



I pitched my tent, at tlic distance of three quarters 

 of a intle fioh) the villa';-e, near a little stream of wa- 



