ITINKRAEY. Ixiii 



they had been in fact rather soothing under our shelter : but thunder- 

 storms of such severit)' were quite another matter. The soughing of 

 the winds in the slender Bonnetia branches and their thin tops, with 

 recurrent echoes, was always a half-surprise when one .woke from fitful 

 sleep at night, as though one heard the distant murmuring of the seas ; 

 and perhaps the closeness of one's ears to the ground may have added 

 to the impression. 



After getting the only species of bird noticed on the top, and taking 

 a representative series of photographs, among them the one of the 

 tree with Jacob in the branches, McDonnell had gone down on the 

 third day for the special efibrt on the birds below, and in the most 

 considerate manner had left our personal servant, George, with me. 

 As a fact, I hardly know how I could have managed without him, for 

 as the days passed I began to get so stiff in the back and legs from the 

 constant soaking with the cold moisture and water, and perhaps too 

 from the chilly waterpi'oof -sheet at night on the moist ground, that I 

 had to get about with a sort of half-stoop; and George always had 

 something hot waiting for me, and he would relieve me greatly by 

 rubbing me over with vaseline and embrocation and warm cloths, 

 which kept me going. Besides, he was of the greatest use in helping 

 me to sort out and prepare the miscellaneous material brought in. We 

 could not always remember all that had previously been collected, so 

 that the selection took more time as we went on ; and he was of much 

 more service than any of the untrained Indians could have been under 

 the circumstances. 



At last, however, as new material became practically exhausted, I 

 decided to join MoOonnell below, where, as I heard through the relays 

 of Indians who came up, he was getting a very fine set of birds. I 

 hoped to be able to do some woik on the more sunny slopes of 

 Kukenaam and in the extensive clearing of the provision-fields, and 

 perhaps in the unexplored gorge betu een the two mountains. 



We all got down safely, many carriers having come up so that the 

 loads might not be heavy. Sufi'ering as I was with stiffness in the 

 back a,nd joints, I found the descent a long and laborious task, for 

 though the path was now well-worn and open, it had become worse by 

 the traffic over some of the moistest and steepest parts, where it was 

 the easiest to slide down on the back and side ; and I was literally 

 plastered with mud and the slime of many small plants before I got 

 out of the forest-belt. To make it worse, a cold drenching rain began 

 falling heavily when I was some two miles from the village, chilling me 

 to the bone during the slow walk over the narrow rocky track : this 

 was the last straw for me. For more than a week I was nearly helpless 

 in my hammock, and it was nearly another before I was able to 

 attempt the return journey. McConnell told me afterwards that he 

 had made'all arrangements with Kitchie to have me carried on our 

 former track south, which though longer was nothing like as difficult 

 as the. Mazaruni route ; and, of course, the Indians were all sure I was 

 dying, as a penalty for staying so long on the mountain and going 

 all over it. With the increasing stiffness, I had realised that such 

 continuous work, under the moist conditions inseparable from it, 

 would most likely cause me much suffering later, but with limited 



