352 cool nights. Chap. XIII. 



running zigzag across instead of along the valley. They 

 had been made by the villagers going from the hamlets on 

 the slopes to their gardens in the meadows below. To add 

 to our difficulties, the rivulets and mountain-torrents had 

 worn gullies some thirty or forty feet deep, with steep sides 

 that could not be climbed except at certain points. The 

 remaining inhabitants on the flank of the range when they 

 saw strangers winding from side to side, and often attempt- 

 ing to cross these torrent beds at impossible places, screamed 

 out their shrill war-alarm, and made the valley ring with 

 their wild outcries. It was war, and war alone, and we 

 were too deep down in the valley to make our voices heard 

 in explanation. Fortunately, they had burned off the long 

 grass to a great extent. It only here and there hid them 

 from us. Selecting an open spot, we spent a night regarded 

 by all around us as slave-hunters, but were undisturbed, 

 though the usual way of treating an enemy in this part of 

 the country is by night attack. 



The nights at the altitude of the valley were cool, the 

 lowest temperature shown being 37°; at 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. 

 it was 58°, about the average temperature of the day ; at 

 mid-day 82°, and sunset 70°. Our march was very much 

 hindered by the imperfectly burned corn and grass stalks 

 having fallen across the paths. To a reader in England this 

 will seem a very small obstacle. But he must fancy the 

 grass stems as thick as his little finger, and the corn-stalks 

 like so many walkingsticks lying in one direction, and so 

 supporting each other that one has to lift his feet up as 

 when wading through deep high heather. The stems of 

 grass showed the causes of certain explosions as loud as 

 pistols, which are heard when the annual fires come roar- 

 ing over the land. The heated air inside expanding bursts 

 the stalk with a loud report, and strews the fragments on 

 the ground. 



A very great deal of native corn had been cultivated 



