Yesterday the same expedition set forth to the southward by
what is known as Carruthers' Road. At a fallen tree which
completely blocks the way, the main body was as before left
behind, and the advance guard of one now proceeded with the
exploration. At the great tree known as MEPI TREE, after
Maben the surveyor, the expedition struck forty yards due
west till it struck the top of a steep bank which it
descended. The whole bottom of the ravine is filled with
sharp lava blocks quite unrolled and very difficult and
dangerous to walk among; no water in the course, scarce any
sign of water. And yet surely water must have made this bold
cutting in the plateau. And if so, why is the lava sharp?
My science gave out; but I could not but think it ominous and
volcanic. The course of the stream was tortuous, but with a
resultant direction a little by west of north; the sides the
whole way exceeding steep, the expedition buried under
fathoms of foliage. Presently water appeared in the bottom,
a good quantity; perhaps thirty or forty cubic feet, with
pools and waterfalls. A tree that stands all along the banks
here must be very fond of water; its roots lie close-packed
down the stream, like hanks of guts, so as to make often a
corrugated walk, each root ending in a blunt tuft of
filaments, plainly to drink water. Twice there came in small
tributaries from the left or western side - the whole plateau
having a smartish inclination to the east; one of the
tributaries in a handsome little web of silver hanging in the
forest. Twice I was startled by birds; one that barked like
a dog; another that whistled loud ploughman's signals, so
that I vow I was thrilled, and thought I had fallen among
runaway blacks, and regretted my cutlass which I had lost and