118 
THE KILIMA-NJAR 0 EXPEDITION. 
After such a tiring ascent, wherein we were nearly 
compelled to relapse into our pristine mode of loco¬ 
motion—in fact to imitate those great baboons who 
scampered away from us on all fours up the lanes, 
disturbed in their raids on the banana clusters ; we 
were now able to stroll at our ease, though such was 
the exhilaration of the scene, and the freshness of the 
morning air, that I skipped and tripped, childlike, 
along the level path. And such a path ! Like a tiny 
towing-track it followed a Lilliputian canal, cut along 
an artificial channel in the hill-side, or, to express it 
more clearly, diverted from the parent-stream before 
the hill was a hill in a far-off valley, and now pursuing 
its tranquil course and gentle descent along the swelling 
bosom of the mountain, while the original rivulet 
descended below in wasteful cascades. Both path and 
irrigating channel hung seemingly in mid-air, jutting 
out from the mountain-side with a thousand feet of 
tree-choked ravine below and five hundred feet of 
bracken-covered hill above. Therefore, as we marched 
along so gaily, we looked down on the velvety tops of 
the bushy trees with which the sheer descent of rock 
and fern was studded, and up through the wide, orange- 
tinted bracken fronds at the bright green banana 
groves that crested the summit of the hill. Then we 
rounded the prettiest little clump of woodland imagi¬ 
nable, pushed out like an ornamental shelf or bracket 
from the wall of hill, and positively suspended over the 
green gulf below. This, indeed, was a “ hanging-wood, 5 ' 
and I almost hesitated at first to follow the path that 
hung upon its edge, fearing lest the weight of our pass¬ 
ing troop might break down the border that supported 
path and stream, and send us tumbling into the valley 
beneath. But this was a danger more fanciful than 
