proceeded a hundred yards before
(as we had anticipated from appearances on the hilltop) our progress was
entirely arrested by a branch of the gorge in which our companions had
perished. We now passed along the edge of this for about a quarter of a
mile, when we were again stopped by a precipice of immense depth, and,
not being able to make our way along the brink of it, we were forced to
retrace our steps by the main ravine.

We now pushed over to the eastward, but with precisely similar fortune.
After an hour's scramble, at the risk of breaking our necks, we
discovered that we had merely descended into a vast pit of black
granite, with fine dust at the bottom, and whence the only egress was by
the rugged path in which we had come down. Toiling again up this path,
we now tried the northern edge of the hill. Here we were obliged to
use the greatest possible caution in our maneuvers, as the least
indiscretion would expose us to the full view of the savages in the
village. We crawled along, therefore, on our hands and knees, and,
occasionally, were even forced to throw ourselves at full length,
dragging our bodies along by means of the shrubbery. In this careful
manner we had proceeded but a little way, when we arrived at a chasm
far deeper than any we had yet seen, and leading directly into the main
gorge. Thus our fears were fully confirmed, and we found ourselves cut
off entirely from access to the world below. Thoroughly exhausted by
our exertions, we made the best of our way back to the platform, and
throwing ourselves upon the bed of leaves, slept sweetly and soundly for
some hours.

For several days after this fruitless search we were occupied in
exploring every part of the summit of the hill, in order to inform
ourselves of its actual resources. We found that it would afford us no
food, with the exception of the unwholesome filberts, and a rank species
of scurvy grass, which grew in a little patch of not more than four rods
square, and would be soon exhausted. On the fifteenth of February, as
near as I can remember, there was not a blade of this left, and the
nuts were growing scarce; our situation, therefore, could hardly be more
lamentable. {*5} On the sixteenth we again went round the walls of our
prison, in hope of finding some avenue of escape; but to no purpose.
We also descended the chasm in which we had been overwhelmed, with the
faint expectation of discovering, through this channel, some opening to
the