■ Y8ABHL. 289 



half a mile up through the bush, followmg a stream, and 

 then up a steep little hill till we came to the ebony trees. 

 There were a good many of them, but only one large one, 

 about eighteen inches diameter, and forty feet long in the 

 stem, on a steep bank. The sawdust was not black, and the 

 wood seemed very hard. The other trees measured six to 

 ten inches through. There was a lignum vitas tree, which 

 was also cut down. 



We then started in order to look at a village on the hill, 

 where the Bishop had once been, and where there Avere 

 houses in the trees, in Avhich the people lived, or rather 

 slept at night, for protection. We bolted off through the 

 bush. The first pait of the way was swampy Avith man- 

 groves close to the sea. I had my gun which I found 

 dreadfully in my Avay when going fast. The Bishop, a 

 good many officers, and two natives were of the party. 

 We came to a stream with a good deal of water in it, and 

 the bed at places partly dry. The sun was very bright, 

 and of course hot. We had to ascend the stream often 

 up to our knees in water, then into the bush back to the 

 stream, up it, back again to the bush, often along the stems 

 of large dead trees which were lying on the ground. I 

 had to wait every now and then for the boy and got 

 behind the others. I had no one to show me the way, 

 which was not very easy to find, especially by one in 

 a hurry, so I overshot the track, and had to make a 

 cut across the bush on the flat, at the end of which the 

 ascent commences, before I could regain it. A second 



u 



