26 
DANGEROUSLY TIGHT TROUSERS. 
pulled by two very small boys encased in very tight 
trousers, wdio got us on shore after a while by the 
greatest exertion, and then returned despondingly on 
board to repair damages. 
We at once made for the hill-side and commenced 
beating the bush for antelope with the most “new-broom"’- 
like energy; and, to have seen us as we thus started, one 
would have thought that ^ve were folloAving a most 
reliable pointer, and that wo were expecting a bird to 
rise under our noses at everj^ step, so ready were our 
guns and so watchful were our eyes. As I now look 
back upon that tramp and recall its various drawbacks, 
it seems without exception the most disagreeable thing 
of the kind that I ever undertook. Such a total absence 
not only of game but even of animal life! and such walk- 
ing as it was along the sides of those rugged hills! I shall 
never forget the feeling of satisfaction with which I went 
to bed that night. 
Imagine the sloping side of a mountain-range three 
miles in length, covered by a thick undergrowth reaching 
up to one’s shoulders; millions of loose round stones 
underfoot; stationaiy rocks in the shape of o’erhanging 
cliffs and huge boulders around and overhead; deep 
ravines every one or two hundred yards, running from 
the ridge to the sea, — a regular alternation of ridge and 
ravine; and imagine us walking over those loose stones 
which we could not see, and through those thick' and 
tangled bushes which we could just see over, and one 
has a very fair idea of the “hard road” which we had to 
travel. And travel it we did^ with a pelting rain and strong 
wind in our faces, and growing disgust in our hearts. 
