r towards the abyss, and after
one breathless instant fell with a crash into the tree, the branches
snapping and crackling with my weight, as I sunk lower and lower among
them until I was stopped by coming in contact with a sturdy limb.

In a few moments I was standing at the foot of the tree, manipulating
myself all over with a view of ascertaining the extent of the injuries I
had received. To my surprise the only effects of my feat were a few slight
contusions too trifling to care about. The rest of our descent was easily
accomplished, and in half an hour after regaining the ravine, we had
partaken of our evening morsel, built our hut as usual, and crawled under
its shelter.

The next morning, in spite of our debility and the agony of hunger under
which we were now suffering, though neither of us confessed to the fact,
we struggled along our dismal and still difficult and dangerous path,
cheered by the hope of soon catching a glimpse of the valley before us,
and towards evening the voice of a cataract which had for some time
sounded like a low deep bass to the music of the smaller waterfalls, broke
upon our ears in still louder tones, and assured us that we were
approaching its vicinity.

That evening we stood on the brink of a precipice, over which the dark
stream bounded in one final leap of full 300 feet. The sheer descent
terminated in the region we so long had sought. On either side of the
fall, two lofty and perpendicular bluffs buttressed the sides of the
enormous cliff, and projected into the sea of verdure with which the
valley waved, and a range of similar projecting eminences stood disposed
in a half circle about the head of the vale. A thick canopy of trees hung
over the very verge of the fall, leaving an arched aperture for the
passage of the waters, which imparted a strange picturesqueness to the
scene.

The valley was now before us; but instead of being conducted into its
smiling bosom by the gradual descent of the deep watercourse we had thus
far pursued, all our labours now appeared to have been rendered futile by
its abrupt termination. But, bitterly disappointed, we did not entirely
despair.

As it was now near sunset we determined to pass the night where we were
and on the morrow, refreshed by sleep, and by eating at one meal all our
stock of food, to accomplish a descent into the valley, or perish in the
attempt.

We laid ourselves down that night on a spot, the recollection of which
still