A BLOUCWI OF DESPOND. 
535 
face where the gun is held, and the hand is made sore by 
fending it off the other side for hours. The rains were 
fairly set in by November; and in the mornings, or after a 
shower, these leaves were loaded with moisture which wet 
us to the bone. The valleys are deeply undulating, and in 
each innumerable dells have to be crossed. There may be 
only a thread of water at the bottom, but the mnd, mire, 
or (Scottict) " glaur ” is grievous ; thirty or forty yards of 
the path on each side of the stream are worked by the feet 
of passengers into an adhesive compound. By placing a 
foot on each side of the. narrow way' one may waddle a 
little distance along, but the rank crop of grasses, gingers 
and bushes cannot share the few inches of soil required for 
the side of the foot, and down he comes into the slough. 
The path often runs along the bed of the rivulet for sixty 
or more yards, as if he who first cut it out went that dis- 
tance seeking for a part of the forest less dense for his nxe. 
In other cases the muale palm, from which here, as iti Ma- 
dagascar, grass-cloth is woven and called by' the same name, 
“ lam ha,” has taken possession of the valley. The leaf 
stalks, as thick as a strong man’s arm, fall off and block 
up all passage save by a path made and mixed up ly the 
feet of elephants and buffaloes ; the slough therein is groan- 
compelling and deep. 
Every now and then the traders, with rueful faces, stand 
panting ; the sweat trickles down my face, and I suppose 
that 1 look as grim as they, though I try to cheer them 
with the hope that good prices will reward them at the 
coast for ivory obtained with so much toil. In some cases 
tko subsoil has given way beneath the elephants’ enormous 
weight; the deep hole is filled with mud, and one, taking 
it to be all about calf deep, steps in to tlie top of the thigh, 
and Haps on to a seat soft enough, but not luxurious ; a 
merry laugh relaxes the facial muscles, though 1 have no 
other reason for it than that it is better to laugh thau 
to cry. 
Some of the numerous rivers which in this region flow 
