216 



Thursday, 5th. I awoke at daybreak finding myself pretty 

 damp from the dew — and hearing the others saying they had 

 hardly slept all night — strange to say I had been fast asleep from 

 the time I went to bed till then. 



After taking coffee we shouldered our traps and were again 

 on the march — our way at first was thro' much the same country 

 as on the previous day, but soon the vegetation began to get 

 thicker and smaller with a great number of tree ferns, whose 

 trunks are covered with thorns. I felt quite fresh today, and 

 went along very well with the help of feet and hands. The only 

 thing that gave us any anxiety was want of water — we found 

 none in our way, and did not wish to drink that which we carried 

 in our canteens, as we did not know how long we might be 

 detained in the mountain — On my mentioning this to Correa, 

 he said just here there is plenty of water, and taking out his knife 

 he cut off a piece of a "parra" or vine that I had noticed in 

 great quantities, and holding it over my little cup, it soon filled 

 it with the sap — which was like the clearest and coolest water I 

 ever tasted. 



At 9 we stopped for a few minutes to eat some sardines and 

 biscuit, after which I felt decidedly better. We wanted some- 

 thing to keep us up, for almost immediately afterwards we came 

 up on a very bad pass. Suddenly the trees stopped, and before 

 us there seemed to be no way, but another step brought us in 

 sight of a path leading almost perpendicularly up, and at the 

 same time doubling a sharp corner of the mountain — it seemed 

 to me to have been at one time a mountain torrent, as there 

 were no trees, but large pieces of bare rock fixed pretty firmly, 

 but as this did not last for more than a dozen yards, we succeeded 

 in climbing up. A. Sagebien, who was in front of me turned 

 back, saying he had the vertigo, but afterwards we persuaded 

 him to come on — on looking behind you the rock went straight 

 away down, and stopped only to end in the clouds below — this 

 path brought us to the top of a mountain very near Turquino, 

 and from where we could see our old friend. 



Feeling again thirst, I asked Correa if he could get me some 

 water here, as we had left the vines far down below, he said yes^ 



