FORD OVER THE GINDEBAL WANS. 283 



localities. Hero, in the little reaches that 

 alternated with rough stone waterfalls, were nume- 

 rous trunks of the sigbar, ted, and " waira" or 

 wild olive tree, which had been brought down 

 from the forests that surround its remotest sources. 

 Through the dark green mass of foliage could be 

 observed, in several places, broadly cut channels, 

 produced by the crashing boulders from the edge 

 of the table land behind, detached by the late 

 earthquake, and it is such an agent, rather than 

 the denuding effect of the stream itself, that 

 occasions such vast numbers of these trees that 

 are annually floated down the " Gindebal 

 wans." 



I considered that it would be hopeless to attempt 

 fording this stream, for although above it widened 

 considerably, and was spread over a rocky cascade, 

 still between the huge stones that there appeared 

 above its surface, wide channels existed, and 

 however shallow the water might be, the swift- 

 ness of the current would have turned a man 

 over like a leaf. At all events the mule would 

 not take me over, and so I sat down whilst 

 Walderheros was looking out for the ford, leaping 

 from stone to stone, and instructed by Goodaloo, 

 who, on the other side, was shouting out directions, 

 which w 7 ere very indistinctly heard amidst the 

 noise of the torrent. His appearance alone demon- 

 strated the possibility of the passage, but seeing 

 him in a very short time joined by Walderheros, 



