is much greater than that of ascending. In the
latter, you can see where you are to set your feet, and also what you
are to take hold of with your hands; whereas, in the former you have not
this advantage; but must grope your way downward, and are therefore
continually exposed to the danger of missing your footing, and being
precipitated to the bottom.

This was just the situation in which the plant-hunter found himself. It
was as much as he had been able to pull himself up; it was more than he
could do to let himself down again; this he perceived at a single
glance.

It is true that the rock slanted a little, and he had clearly seen this
from below. Now that he looked at it from above, he could scarcely
perceive any slant. It appeared almost vertical, and it was full forty
feet to the bottom; a fearful height when viewed from above; he wondered
how he had been able to climb up at all, and he was now vexed with
himself for having been so rash and foolish.

But he could not stay there all night. Something must be done, to free
him from his unpleasant situation; and, gathering resolution, he made an
attempt to descend.

He knelt down upon the ledge, with his face turned toward the cliff and
his back outwards. Then, grasping the rock, in his hands, he allowed
his feet to slip over. He succeeded in finding the uppermost steps, but
then came the difficulty. He dared not let go with his hands, so as to
get another step downward; and, on lowering his feet to feel for a fresh
foothold, he could not discover any. Repeatedly he ran his toes over
the face of the rock, groping for a notch or jutting point, but he could
find nothing upon which to rest either foot, and he was at length
obliged to draw them up, and place himself back upon the ledge.

He now bethought him that there might be a better place for making the
descent; and, rising to his feet, he proceeded to search for it. He had
no difficulty in passing along the ledge; it was several feet in width,
and he could walk erect upon it without danger. It extended for nearly
fifty yards along the face of the cliff, and was of nearly equal breadth
all the way.

Karl proceeded along it from one end to the other, at every step or two
stopping and looking downward.

But his examination ended in disappointment. There was no path leading
from it, at all practicable for any other creature than a cat, or some
other animal with crooked claws,--at all events, there wa