﻿1 98 MERRILL. 



all the material across the river, but as we had with us only seven carriers, 

 a temporal camp was established on the opposite bank and the two 

 American soldiers, who were still in a weak condition, were left in charge. 



At noon, the remaining members of the party, all heavily loaded, 

 proceeded down the east bank of the Alag. Many difficulties were 

 encountered during the afternoon. In a number of places where bluffs 

 arose abruptly from the stream and which on the up trip we had been 

 able to avoid by fording the river, we were now obliged to climb, fording 

 being entirely oid of the question. These frequent detours entailed 

 extensive trail cutting which, with a 50-pound pack, soon became a 

 decidedly painful operation, especially as in order to find a feasible route 

 we had frequently to climb the steep banks or to follow the nearly as 

 steep ravines to a height of two or three hundred feet or more. Camp 

 was made just after dark at the foot of a bluff on the edge of the river. 

 A daybreak on December 2 we proceeded dowln the stream to a point 

 opposite the entrance of the Egbert River, where Camp Number Ten 

 was established. 



All the carriers were immediately sent up the river to bring down 

 more supplies, a scout, who succeeded in crossing the Alag with some 

 difficulty, went into Subaan for additional ones, and one man was 

 sent to the Binabay River for food. Fortunately for us the weather 

 still continued clear and the Alag fell rapidly. On December 3 the 

 carriers were again dispatched up the Alag to bring down the remaining 

 equipment, returning to camp lafe in the afternoon, the two soldiers 

 accompanying them and at the same time the bearers from Subaan 

 arrived, reporting that they had encountered serious difficulties in cross- 

 ing the Alag on the trip back to the coast, but that they had finally 

 reached their destination and started back with supplies. On their return, 

 finding that the river was high and that it was impossible to cross, they 

 remained on the north bank of the stream for three days waiting for 

 the waters to subside, and then returned to Subaan. As the carriers 

 came in late in the afternoon it was impossible for us to move camp 

 across the river on that day. A heavy rain came on in the night which 

 caused us considerable anxiety for the reason .that if it continued for 

 any length of 'time, we should be unable to cross the river on the follow- 

 ing day and would be obliged to follow the stream down to tide-water 

 along the south bank. 



The rain continued throughout the night and at daybreak we found 

 that the water had risen about six inches, so that the stream was still 

 fordable, although with great difficulty and considerable danger. Heavily 

 loaded carriers with the assistance of one or two men without loads could 

 usually keep their footing, but some of them were carried downstream 

 by the current, wetting some of our equipment. The Americans in the 

 party who attempted to cross without loads, depending entirely on heavy 



