m TEE EASTEBN ARCniPELAOO, 



163 



all (lay. As it nm Christmas time» and we were near the fifth 

 pamliel of south latitude, darkness was due shortly after six 

 o 'cluck. 



At half'past five I desired to encamp for the nigy, but 

 the ground was so wet and the leeches so nunierons that the 

 ciirriers begged me to keep on. The more heavily-laden 

 jH>rters had fallen gradually beliind out of call, and those near 

 me had beeome very rebellious under the distressing condition 

 of things. Su<ldcnly, even though expecting it, darkness fell 

 on us, so dense that I could not see even the outline of the 

 porter immediately in front of me. Buoyed up, however, by 

 the hope that after twelve hours* march the hut must surely 

 be near, we plodded on, till compelled by the ruggedness of 

 the road to halt, with the intention of making a torch to light 

 the rest of our way. 



The only dry wood within reach was the interior of the 

 bamboo, on which the baggage was slung. One of these was 

 hastily undone and cut up, but no one had a dry match \ 

 My own stock was with the part of the baggage in the rear. 

 My servant, however, had a flint and some tinder, with which, 

 after a great stniggle, he managed to light a cigarette. The 

 ouly thing possible now was to try to make the cigarette 

 ignite the dry scrapings from the interior of the bamboo. At 

 length they catight; and hope brightened with the rising 

 smoke; but a big raindrop drowned them both. For nearly 

 an hour we laboured in vain to " make " fire, and the idea of 

 ligliting a torch or of proceeding further had to be abandoned. 



The porters had thrown themselves on halting on the wet 

 ground, and were fast asleep. All of us were drenched, but 

 with the part of the baggage by me was, luckily, my water- 

 proof sheet, containing a change of clothes and my Ulst«r-coat. 

 After several attempts to adjust the proper garments to the 

 respective portions of the body for which they were made, and 

 throwing the waterproof sheet over my head, I sat dowTi on a 

 box to brave till morning the rain and the beasts of the forest, 

 my hands thrust deep into my Ulster pockets. To my delight, 

 my fingers found a piece of linen cloth bone dry. Starting up, 

 I roused the man with the flint and rasp. We hammere(l away 

 industriously for a weary length of time; at last we were 

 rewarded — the tinder had caught. It is impossible to relate 



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