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AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
CHAPTER II. 
The Grange River. 
The following extract describes some adventures of the 
travellers on the Orange River. 
Next morning, just as bright Aurora was raising her 
head from her rosy pillow on the Eastern horizon, we 
were once more on our way to the selected site for our 
open-air studio. Making one end of the rope fast round 
a rock, and stuffing our coats underneath where it 
turned the sharp corner, I started first : taking the 
rope in my hands and twisting my leg around it, I 
slipped easily enough down till I came to the straps : 
the rope, I knew, was strong enough, but I had my 
doubts about some of the straps. However, they bore 
the strain and took me safely to within ten feet of the 
bottom. From the top it had seemed as if they were 
only a few inches too short, but now I found a gap of 
ten feet at least between me and the rocks. I hesitated 
whether to drop oft’ or climb back, when a happy 
thought struck me : I would write a note and tie it to 
the end of the strap before dropping off, and explain 
to Lulu the state of affairs, so that he could fasten the 
camera to the end of the rope and lower it down 
instead of sliding it down as arranged. In half an 
hour came the camera, which I just managed to reach 
standing on tiptoe, then the shields, protected by their 
covering of blankets, &c., and lastly, Lulu himself. 
He was delighted with the point of view, which he said 
would give both elevation and depth, foreground and 
middle distance, while the sun was just right for the 
shadows and high lights. The only drawback was that 
we were so far away from the beautiful object, the fall 
itself ; but that could not be helped : there was no 
