A Thousand-Mile 0 alk 
of my inability to determine its depth. In many 
places I was compelled to turn back, after 
wading forty or fifty yards, and to try again 
a score of times before I succeeded in getting 
across a single lagoon. 
At length, after miles of wading and wallow- 
ing, I arrived at the grand cat-brier encamp- 
ment which guarded the whole forest in solid 
phalanx, unmeasured miles up and down across 
my way. Alas! the trail by which I had crossed 
in the morning was not to be found, and night 
was near. In vain I scrambled back and forth 
in search of an opening. There was not even a 
strip of dry ground on which to rest. Every- 
where the long briers arched over to the vines 
and bushes of the watery swamp, leaving 
no standing-ground between them. I began to 
think of building some sort of a scaffold in a 
tree to rest on through the night, but concluded 
to make one more desperate effort to find the 
narrow track. 
After calm, concentrated recollection of my 
course, I made a long exploration toward the 
[ 120 ] 
