34 TlMEHRI. 
siderable difficulty. The ground was exceedingly 
slippery, in consequence of the heavy rains which had 
recently fallen ; and this special difficulty was enhanced by 
the fa6l that much of the ground was occupied by a large 
flag-leaved Stegilepis which, trodden or cut down as we 
advanced, gave us many a fall, on account of the great 
slipperiness of the whole plant and by the big Brocchinia 
(B. co rdy lino ides), the latter so densely placed that we 
had to walk over their tops, plunging and slipping about 
in the considerable quantity of water which each of these 
plants holds in its axil. Seldom if ever did we step on 
the real ground, but instead we climbed, hands and feet 
all fully employed, over masses of vegetation dense 
enough to bear our weight, over high-piled rocks and tree 
stumps and not seldom under boulders of vast size, up 
tree-trunks and along tree branches, across the beds of 
many streams so filled with broken rocks that the water 
heard trickling below was unseen. Nor did the dense 
and universal coating of moss, filmy ferns and lungworts 
afford any but the most treacherous foot-hold and hand- 
hold. 
At last, about n a.m. we reached a station near the 
foot of the ledge, at the base of the cliff, where some old 
cutlass marks on the trees attracting my attention, it 
appeared after enquiry from the Indians that Mr. 
Whitely had been some years before. How he reached 
it I do not know; certainly our path did not seem in 
any way to have touched his until just before the base of 
the cliff. I presume, but am not sure, that the station 
at which we now were was the highest to which Mr. 
WHITELY attained, for there were no traces of any 
further advance having been made, up the ledge. 
