g34 TRAVELS IN TETE E.tST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO, 



was nearest the top, and asked Lim if I could go 

 down there, to whiebj of course, lie answered yes, as 

 most people do when they do not know what to say, 

 and must give some reply. 



I had hrought up with me an alpen-stock, or long 

 stick, slightly curved at one end, and with this I 

 reached down and broke places for ray heels in the 

 crast that covered the sand and loose stones. For 

 hundreds of feet beneath me the descent seemed per- 

 pendiculai', but I slowly worked my way downward 

 for more than ninety feet, and had begun to con- 

 gratulate myself on the good progress I was making. 

 Soon, I thought, I shall be down there, where I can 

 lay hold of that bush and feel that the worst is past, 

 when I was suddenly startled by a shout fi-om my 

 companions, who were at some distance on my right. 

 ** Stop ! Don't go a step farther, but climb directly 

 up just as you went do^vn/* I now looked round for 

 the first time, and found, to my astonishment, that I 

 was on a tongue of land between t^vo deep, long holes 

 or fissures, where great land-slides had recently oc- 

 curred. I had kept my attention so fixed on the 

 bush before me that I had never looked to the right or 

 left — generally a good rule in such trying situations. 

 To go on was to increase my peril, so I tunied, 

 climbed up again, and passed round the head of one 

 of these fi-ightfal holes. If at any time the crust bad 

 been weak, and had broken beneath my heels, no 

 earthly power could have saved me from instant 

 death. As I broke place after place for my feet with 

 the staff, I thought of Professor Tyndal's dangerous 

 ascent and descent of Monte Eosa, At last I joined 



