TIMUR BEG. 
9 
exceedingly fond of hunting, and to this may be attri- 
buted that vigour of constitution and activity of frame 
which he retained almost to the latest period of a 
long life of constant enterprise. Climbing the abrupt 
acclivities, and leaping the foaming torrents of his 
native hills, not only hardened his sinews, but rendered 
him patient of fatigue, and persevering under difficul- 
ties to a degree never witnessed among ordinary men. 
The precipice and the cataract w r ere by him alike 
disregarded when they interposed betwixt him and 
the objects of his ambition ; and his resolute manner 
of overcoming such impediments may be estimated by 
the mode in which, even now throughout the hilly 
regions of the East, torrents are crossed by the hardy 
and fearless mountaineers. 
On either side of the gully to be passed over, two 
poles are laid together, about half a yard from the top, 
forming an isosceles triangle with the rock upon which 
they rest, to their point of junction above. The rope 
being thrown across the stream, is laid in the in- 
verted angle produced by the poles above the triangle, 
and fastened on either side to some root projecting 
from the rocks beneath, a hoop being previously passed 
over the rope constituting the bridge. Such a transit 
is frequently one of the most fearful things that can 
be conceived. The mighty rush and roar of the tor- 
rent down an almost perpendicular channel, impeded 
by huge masses of rock, against which the ponderous 
waters dash with a weight and momentum that 
cause the firm hills to vibrate to their very summits, 
while the passenger is supported over a frightful abyss 
by a thin rope that may give way in a moment, and 
