VICISSITUDES 
main chains were under-girt with loops of bamboo, 
forming a cradle, along the bottom of which single 
bamboos were laid on end, affording a precarious 
footway. The total length of the span was at least 
150 feet, and it swung clear of the tree-tops on the 
wooded sides of the gorge. At its greatest dip the 
bridge must have been 70 feet above the river. The 
elasticity and swing were tremendous, and I confess that 
the passage of the bridge was no joke to one unaccus- 
tomed to its giddy eccentricities. On this veritable 
tight-rope custom is everything, for I have seen fifteen 
native carriers at one time dancing carelessly across it, 
regardless of their heavy loads and of the tremen- 
dous increase in the oscillation that their numbers 
caused. 
I crossed with some natives of the district, and 
having descended the right bank of the St. Joseph for 
about a mile, we came to the mouth of a small tribu- 
tary, the bed of which we ascended for a distance of 
half a mile. It was a toilsome ascent owing to the 
enormous boulders, to which I have already alluded, 
and I found that the safest way was to take off my 
shoes and stockings and clamber along bare-foot. At 
intervals among these boulders occurred calm pools of 
exquisite deep blue water, and these the natives choose 
as their fishing grounds. They favour the pools with 
the narrowest outlets, and dam with leaves the little 
waterfalls or natural weirs over which the water rushes 
from one clear expanse to another. 
My native companions, being very agreeable and 
obliging fellows, were kind enough to send to their 
villages for the great fishing nets, 30 yards long and 
129 G 
