SINGULAR DEXTERITY. 



153 



fully severe years as that during which I tra- 

 velled, tho people of the district would be 

 starved if this lake did not exist ; it enabled the 

 inhabitants of Acu, at the time I was there, to 

 remain in their houses. The appearance of 

 abundance, the bright green, the well-fed horses 

 and cattle, which w r e saw as we travelled along 

 its banks, enlivened us all ; there was a look of 

 security, a seeming certainty of at least the 

 necessaries of life, let what would happen, which 

 we had not for a long time felt. The parched 

 hills which surround the lake, its beautifully 

 cultivated borders, and the dark and dangerous 

 bogs which compose its centre, and prevent the 

 communication of the inhabitants of either bank, 

 formed a very extraordinary scene. No water 

 was to be seen, but the mud was too deep, and 

 not of sufficient consistence for a man to be 

 enabled to wade across j nor could a passage to 

 the other side be effected by means of a raft, 

 for a very trifling weight would make it sink. 



We unloaded under a small tree on a rising 

 ground, with the lake on our right ; between us 

 and the house of the commandant, there was a 

 deep ravine, down which, in the rainy season, 

 the waters rush from the hills. This ravine was 

 under cultivation and was enclosed, a narrow 

 path only being left to cross from where we had 

 stationed ourselves to the hut on the opposite 

 hill, which was entirely composed of wood and 



