JOURNEY TO THE HILLS. 
243 
but at my urgent request H. consented to let 
me join him, now that the roof was partly on. 
He joined us at breakfast next day, and early 
in the afternoon, while the sun was still very 
powerful, we set off for Fatunaba, Follow us 
riding through the tree-shaded streets, out over 
the great stretch of green plain that offers no 
manner of protection from the fierce rays of the 
sun, to the grateful shade of the tall cocoa-nut 
and broad-leaved banana. trees amid which clus- 
ters the African village ; and on between odorous 
hedges to a lovely bit of verdure, where gay 
butterflies flit among scenting shrubs, and birds 
flutter high above among lofty branches. 
Then down the bank of a river-bed to pick 
our way among boulders and other obstacles, a 
scramble up the opposite bank, and we were 
traversing a mile of sandy, rocky soil, which, 
baked in the long day’s sun, reflected its heat 
with sickening strength, while the slanting rays 
themselves fell full on our backs. Before us to the 
right, on the other side of a gorge, was the last 
outpost of civilisation — the monastery school of 
Lahany, and passing this we were at the base of 
the steep spurs called Fatunaba, or Tiring Rocks. 
Some sparse shade there was as we wound 
round the face of a precipitous cliff ; and wiien 
