118 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 
There are two things forbidden by the laws of 
health in the tropics: eating fruit when the body is 
hot, and bathing when in the same condition. But 
Meyong said it would not hurt us if we would remove 
our clothes and sit in the sun a while to dry the per- 
spiration; which we did, and then plunged in. It was 
icy cold, and the current was so swift we could hardly 
stem it, for the river flowed between huge walls of 
rock —a narrow gorge. Into the deep black chasm 
we at last ventured, where the sun could not reach us, 
and essayed a peep into the cavernous depths beneath 
the cliffs. Suspended from a swinging rope, a liane, 
we hung upon the surface of as black and dismal a 
pool as I ever saw. The water fell from a preat 
height into the farthest recesses of the chasm and 
created a sort of whirlpool where we dared not ven- 
ture, and then it flowed out through a narrow open- 
ing into the daylight and sunlight, falling over a broad 
ledge one sheet of foam. 
The lianes gave a strange effect, hanging from the 
heights to the water like loosened ropes; but the most 
beautiful and strangely-attractive forms were those of 
the tree-ferns, which sprang out-of the crevices: in 
the rocks, and spread their broad, lace-like leaves 
above us. 
Refreshed by the bath, and by the contemplation 
of this grand work of nature, we dressed and prepared 
to scale the cliffs on the other side. A little stream 
fell musically over the rock, where it had worn a 
channel for itself in the solid stone, and up this brook- 
let, assisted by tree-ferns and lianes, we climbed and 
climbed. It was now mid-day and the sun gave us a 
warm reminder of his strength, so that we gladly 
