the canes right and left, like a reaper, and soon made quite a
clearing around us. This sight reanimated me; and seizing my own
knife, I hacked and hewed away without mercy. But alas! the
farther we advanced the thicker and taller, and apparently the
more interminable, the reeds became.

I began to think we were fairly snared, and had almost made up my
mind that without a pair of wings we should never be able to
escape from the toils; when all at once I discerned a peep of
daylight through the canes on my right, and, communicating the
joyful tidings to Toby, we both fell to with fresh spirit, and
speedily opening the passage towards it we found ourselves clear
of perplexities, and in the near vicinity of the ridge. After
resting for a few moments we began the ascent, and after a little
vigorous climbing found ourselves close to its summit. Instead
however of walking along its ridge, where we should have been in
full view of the natives in the vales beneath, and at a point
where they could easily intercept us were they so inclined, we
cautiously advanced on one side, crawling on our hands and knees,
and screened from observation by the grass through which we
glided, much in the fashion of a couple of serpents. After an
hour employed in this unpleasant kind of locomotion, we started
to our feet again and pursued our way boldly along the crest of
the ridge.

This salient spur of the lofty elevations that encompassed the
bay rose with a sharp angle from the valleys at its base, and
presented, with the exception of a few steep acclivities, the
appearance of a vast inclined plane, sweeping down towards the
sea from the heights in the distance. We had ascended it near