THE ASCENT. 
245 
soft evening light, and baek to the distant town, 
bathed in crimson hues from the setting sun. 
till we had again to give attention to the 
path : first a water- course, with rocks bared 
and polished by torrents, where the ponies had 
to leap from ledge to ledge, and then a passage 
through dense forest, where we had to be pre- 
pared to urge them over a fallen tree, or to 
lift our legs over their necks as they pressed 
between stems scarcely wide enough apart for 
them to squeeze through. 
" Why do people live in DiUy when it is so 
sickly? Why do they not make dwellings on 
the hills ? w were questions I had often pro- 
pounded to H. I have a satisfactory answer 
now. It would be easier to plant the swamp 
than to make a good road to the mountains. 
When the gathering shadows made the way 
dim, we turned aside from the spur we had been 
climbing, brushing apart with uplifted arms the 
tall grass which bent over the path from the wall- 
like bank on the left, and soon came upon a 
plateau nestling on the shoulder of the hill. Here 
was my new abode, though it was too dark to 
see more than its outline. After an inspection 
by lamplight and a make-shift meal, I was ready 
for my couch under the only roofed-in corner, 
