THE BLACK BEAR. 
721 
HEAD OF UHhl S AMERICANUS. 
round is the shortest way home," I was 
deluded into following the guide's advice. 
Great black clouds threatened an autumn 
storm. After much hard climbing, we 
reached a place where the whole hill-side 
seemed riven apart. On every side we were 
surrounded by precipices and deep gulches, 
partly filled with great bowlders and sharp 
fragments of rocks. Although the dangers 
were not of Alpine magnitude, they might 
just as well have been, inasmuch as they 
were greater than we had any means of over- 
coming. In attempting to find a way out, 
we clambered along a ledge of rocks that 
afforded only insecure footing, and gradually 
diminished in width until all farther progress 
in that direction became impracticable. Re- 
tracing our steps, almost in despair of finding 
an outlet, we came to a fissure in the cliff 
just wide enough to admit one at a time. 
For a distance of twenty feet we were able 
to walk in an upright position ; then the pass- 
VoL. XXIII.— 58. 
age narrowed rapidly, and we had to crawl 
upon our hands and knees in almost perfect 
darkness. Presently we came to a place where 
the opening was so low that, if one attempted 
to straighten up, his back came in contact 
with a solid wall of rock ; thence the passage 
took a sharp downward pitch, at the bottom 
of which we found a space sufficiently large to 
permit us to regain an upright position. The 
darkness was now complete, and, not daring 
to move for fear of getting a fall, I thought it 
prudent to return to the ledge, and imparted 
my intention to the guide. I received no 
reply, and called out in a louder voice. To 
my surprise, the answer came in a muffled 
tone from a locality apparently directly under 
me. By this time, my eyes had become accus- 
tomed to the gloom, and I detected a bluish, 
ghmmering light on the rocky wall overhead, 
proceeding from a distant corner of the space 
in which I stood. Creeping to the source of the 
light, I found a wedge-like opening, decreasing 
