-.6 NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP. XV 
the best in the country. At the commencement it 
was pretty level, though very muddy in places, and 
much obstructed by roots of trees and even by 
fallen trunks stretching across the path ; while 
overhead the branches and twiners hung so low 
that I was compelled every now and then to duck 
my head to avoid a fate similar to that of Absalom. 
They who opened the road had never calculated 
that a long fellow like myself would have to 
traverse it. Farther on were ups and downs 
strewed with stones and often skirting declivities. 
We traversed three considerable streams, tributaries 
of the Cumbasa. The track invariably led straight 
down to the water without any winding, and the 
mules partly slid, partly walked down. 
