DESCRIPTIVE NARRATIVE OP J OUK> x.I. 
58 
at noon we started upon our return to the Buller, not without regret 
at leaving such a magnificent panorama. AV e camped the same 
evening in Coalbrook Dale, and although we had a good fire, it 
was so cold in the tent (22- Fahrenheit) that the ink froze m my 
pen and the Indian ink in my brush, so that I was compelled to 
abandon the idea of noting down my day’s work, h rom tins point 
I determined to follow one of the streams as fai as le ^oas > 
order to get a more complete section of the strata, and m the hope 
that I should find the coal at the foot of the mountain exposed by 
the action of the river. I took two men with me, and du ected 
the others to return, by the same road we had come, to our 
old camp at Mount Eochfort, and thence to bring on the tent 
and other things left there. AAe all started together, but had not 
travelled half a mile when we were enveloped in a dense fog, 
which afterwards changed to a soaking rain. A\ ithoiit having a 
mountain map before one, it is impossible to conceive or under¬ 
stand the broken character of the surface of this plateau. In fine 
weather, with the summit of Mount Eochfort before us, we could 
easily have found our way, but enveloped in a fog which did not 
permit us to see twenty paces before us, we constantly came to 
precipices, and were unable to find an unbroken spur. I thought 
it better, under these circumstances, that we should not separate, 
and we therefore followed down one of the streamlets flowing to 
the coast. The rain fell in torrents, and during our descent we 
were obliged to wade through the water, and jump from rock to 
rock in the bed of the river. After a mile’s walk we reached a 
larger stream flowing from the south-south-east, and here more 
serious difficulties commenced. The river frequently formed falls 
from ten to fifteen feet in height, with perpendicular walls on both 
sides, and it was always a difficult task to descend these falls, 
which we only effected either by gliding down the smooth surface of 
the rocks, or by climbing up the walls and working our way through 
the dense vegetation on their borders. After two more miles the 
stream disappeared suddenly, falling at least 200 feet perpen¬ 
dicular. As it was impossible to descend this fall, we ascended 
the mountain side, and travelled by compass, due west, over a 
small platform. After some scrambling through dense mountain 
vegetation, we again descended the mountain to the stream, which 
was now much larger, and its valley broader. Eain, mingled with 
snow, fell incessantly, and the waters of the river being very cold, 
we felt occasionally much cramped. AVhen evening closed upon 
us we had not, as we had hoped to have done, reached the plains. 
Although we could have found a tolerably good camping ground 
here, we proceeded, in the expectation that after passing a 
high rocky gorge before us we should find a better one, 
but we were cruelly deceived; it became dark whilst we were in 
the gorge, with perpendicular and overhanging cliffs from 200 to 
300 feet on both sides. AVe passed a miserable night, camping 
