one
of these we made fast an end of our rope of handkerchiefs. The other end
being tied round Peters' waist, I lowered him down over the edge of the
precipice until the handkerchiefs were stretched tight. He now proceeded
to dig a deep hole in the soapstone (as far in as eight or ten inches),
sloping away the rock above to the height of a foot, or thereabout,
so as to allow of his driving, with the butt of a pistol, a tolerably
strong peg into the levelled surface. I then drew him up for about four
feet, when he made a hole similar to the one below, driving in a peg as
before, and having thus a resting-place for both feet and hands. I now
unfastened the handkerchiefs from the bush, throwing him the end, which
he tied to the peg in the uppermost hole, letting himself down gently
to a station about three feet lower than he had yet been that is, to the
full extent of the handkerchiefs. Here he dug another hole, and drove
another peg. He then drew himself up, so as to rest his feet in the hole
just cut, taking hold with his hands upon the peg in the one above. It
was now necessary to untie the handkerchiefs from the topmost peg, with
the view of fastening them to the second; and here he found that an
error had been committed in cutting the holes at so great a distance
apart. However, after one or two unsuccessful and dangerous attempts at
reaching the knot (having to hold on with his left hand while he labored
to undo the fastening with his right), he at length cut the string,
leaving six inches of it affixed to the peg. Tying the handkerchiefs
now to the second peg, he descended to a station below the third, taking
care not to go too far down. By these means (means which I should never
have conceived of myself, and for which we were indebted altogether to
Peters' ingenuity and resolution) my companion finally succeeded, with
the occasional aid of projections in the cliff, in reaching the bottom
without accident.

It was some time before I could summon sufficient resolution to follow
him; but I did at length attempt it. Peters had taken off his shirt
before descending, and this, with my own, formed the rope necessary
for the adventure. After throwing down the musket found in the chasm, I
fastened this rope to the bushes, and let myself down rapidly, striving,
by the vigor of my movements, to banish the trepidation which I could
overcome in no other manner. This answered sufficiently well for the
first four or five steps; bu