28 AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION 
dry in the morning — lay in the wildest confusion, 
making our progress very slow, and diminishing the 
quantity and quality of our clothing, as it increased our 
anxiety. Our load, too, became heavier, the weight of 
our shoulder-packs gradually increasing as we gathered 
the ropes we had left hanging at different places on our 
way down. At last, however, we came in sight of the 
last, and thinnest, and longest of them all, the chasm 
down which it was suspended looking even “ uglier ” to 
get up than it had seemed when we prepared to descend. 
But a pool of water lay between us and it, and the 
question was whether we could wade through. Hastily 
but carefully entering, without stopping to take off my 
shoes, I was delighted to find that the water was not 
deeper than my middle, and shouted out the good news 
to Lulu. At that moment my feet sank deep into the 
slimy mud and the water wetted the covering to the 
plates, which were strapped to my back, and I had a 
narrow escape of spoiling the fruit of all our labours ; 
but fortune continued to smile upon us, and in ten 
minutes we were both on terra jirma. 
But such figures ! The sticky mud stuck to us like 
gum ; we looked like sewer navvies minus the long 
boot. To climb up the thin rope with such a load of 
slime was a more difficult task than ever “ greasy pole ” 
presented, and we had to set to work to scrape one 
another. 
Lulu went up first, while I held the rope and kept it 
rigid, making it easier to climb. But to land on top of 
the rock was not so easy. The rope lay flat on a 
slightly inclined surface, his weight and mine pressing 
it so closely that he could not get his fingers under it ; 
but his early gymnastic training came into play. By 
twisting his leg around the rope he was enabled to 
support his weight on it, and then, drawing the whole 
of his body above the top, he threw himself forward, 
loosened his leg, and accomplished what, to ordinary 
people, would have been impossible. Having sent up 
all the impedimenta, I followed ; but as the lower end 
of the rope was now free, it would not be so easy for 
