before they reached a point where they
could make an ascent so as to gain the edge of the ravine. They will
keep along parallel with us, and their fire would clear both sides; it
is not usual to take any precaution of this sort, but after our attack
of the other day, and the attitude of the chief and his people, we
cannot be too cautious. After passing through the first three miles of
the defile, the ravine widens into a valley a hundred yards wide; here
they will come down and join us. There are two other ravines, similar
to the first, to be passed through, but the country there is so wild and
broken that it would be impossible for them to keep along on the
heights, and I doubt whether even the natives could find a point from
which to attack us."

They had now fairly entered the ravine. For thirty or forty feet up the
walls were smooth and polished by the action of the winter torrents;
above, jagged rocks overhung the path, and at some points the cliffs
nearly met overhead. Although it was now almost broad daylight, in the
depths of this ravine the light was dim and obscure.

The boys at first were awestruck at the scene, but their attention was
soon called to the difficulties of the pass. The bed of the stream was
covered with rocks of all sizes; sometimes great boulders, as big as a
good-sized cottage, almost entirely blocked the way, and would have done
so altogether had not the small boulders round them formed slopes on
either side. The depths of the ravine echoed and re-echoed, with a
noise like thunder, the shout of the driver and the crack of the whip,
as the oxen struggled on. The waggons bumped and lurched along over the
stones; the natives and whites all worked their hardest, clearing away
the blocks as far as possible from the track required for the waggons.
Armed with long wooden levers four or six together prized away the heavy
boulders, or, when these were too massive to be moved by their strength,
and when no other path could be chosen, piled a number of smaller
blocks, so as to make a sort of ascent up which the wheels could travel.
The waggons moved but one at a time, the united efforts of the whole
party being required to enable them to get along. When the leading
waggon had moved forward a hundred yards, the next in succession would
be brought up, and so on until the six waggons were again in line; then
all hands would set to work ahead, and prepare the path for another
hundred yards.

I