been harder to climb, so
was this mountain steeper and more dangerous to descend than the first
one we had surmounted, for it sloped down so suddenly in some places
that it seemed as if we were sliding down the pointed roof of a house;
while we had to look out narrowly for several ugly chasms or crevices in
the ground on which we popped every now and then most unexpectedly.
Denis Brown, the most unlucky of the party, as generally happens to
timid nervous people, nearly got his neck broken in one of these gullies
soon after we started, and it was only by the exertions of all our party
that we saved his life.

"Slipping, sliding, swinging ourselves forward sometimes by the branches
of the trees from one foothold to another, but still ever descending, we
made our way down the side of the mountain for ever so long, going on
till we thought we must be diving into the heart of the earth, the gorge
was so deep. Occasionally, when we arrived at some little open space,
we could see the tops of the trees underneath us, as if under our feet,
and felt inclined to jump on them and go right through to the ground
below with a crash, and have done with it at once. The work, however,
was so different to the climbing we had the day before that the men went
at it more cheerily, besides which it was like running downhill, and
when once they had begun descending they could not stop themselves, but
had to go on like a rolling ball.

"Thank God, though, it was toil well spent! As we got nearer the
bottom, I could fancy I heard the noise of water running, the sound
coming to my ear in the silence of the still solemn forest when the
noise we made crashing through the brushwood had ceased. I couldn't
believe it, however, at first, and thought it was a dream, or arose out
of the delirium occasioned by the thirst from which I was suffering; but
it grew clearer and more distinct as we proceeded, and being assured of
this I halted of a sudden.

"`Jem,' I sang out to Magellan, who was still in front forcing a way for
us, `stop a minute! Don't you hear anything?'

"He therefore halted like myself, and so did the rest, who were pressing
on between us, he leading and I bringing up the rear, the other four
being in the middle like a wedge.

"`Listen!' I cried. All was stillness for a moment, but soon, above
the hush that succeeded the noise of our movement through the bush, we
could hear a faint silvery trickling sound that was sweeter than