576 Journal of a trip through Kunawur, fyc. [No. 102. 



he said copper had been dug in the preceding year, but that now the 

 weight of the winter snows had forced in the rock, filling the mines 

 with rubbish, and the workmen had gone farther on in search of a 

 fresh vein of metal. 



Thinking that this might be merely a ruse to prevent my ascend- 

 ing to the spot, I desired him to show the way, and lead me to the 

 abandoned mine, but he declared he had never been there, and could 

 not guide me. Hereupon a council was held as to what was to be 

 done, for to attempt to scale the rocks without a guide, was almost 

 tantamount to suicide. 



In this dilemma we espied at no great distance a kind of bower or 

 hut built of green branches, torn from the cedar trees amongst which it 

 was situated ; so nicely was it calculated, from the materials of its 

 construction and its position amidst the low and stunted trees, to 

 escape detection, and pass for part of the brushwood, that I could 

 scarcely believe it to be any thing else, until the guide removing a 

 large branch, exposed a door way to view. 



Within this sylvan abode was a woman with an infant in her 

 arms both fast asleep, but being awakened by the removal of the 

 door, she replied to our inquiries that the miners had gone in search 

 of ore to a part of the mountain'some miles distant, and would not be 

 back for eight or ten days, and that she and an old man were left 

 behind to burn charcoal against their return. 



After some delay we succeeded in finding the man, whom we oblig- 

 ed very unwillingly to show us the path up the rocks. 



With some grumbling at the prospect of the toil before him, he at 

 last started, and never in my life do I wish to follow any one over 

 such a path again. 



The first four or five hundred feet were tolerably easy, being com- 

 posed of loose soils and fragments of rocks, over which it was not 

 difficult to climb, from their more gradual slope, but beyond this 

 the rocks rose at once precipitously, presenting nothing but their 

 ragged and projecting fragments to walk over. The ascent therefore 

 was now hazardous from its steepness, and often caused us to stop to 

 " take breath, but the footing on the rock was firm, so that by the aid 

 of both hands and feet, we succeeded in nearly attaining the desired 

 spot, without once thinking how we were to descend from our aerial 



