And thus it came to pass that we landed on Hinchinbrook, with no means of
locomotion beyond those with which nature had endowed us.

And now, headed by Lizzie, and walking in single file and in silence, we
struck out for the interior of the island. The path -- if path it could be
called, for it consisted only of a dim track beaten by the naked feet of
the blacks -- wound in and out among the long grass, which, as we
approached the foot of the mountain range, became exchanged for boulders
and loose shale, which rendered walking most tedious, and played the very
mischief with our boots. Here even this track seemed, to our eyes, to die
out; but Lizzie led the way confidently, and evidently with a thorough
knowledge of what she was about. We had now been walking for more than
three hours, and had apparently only got half way up a kind of gorge in the
mountains, which seemed to become gradually narrower and narrower, and from
all appearances afforded every prospect of terminating in a 'cul-de-sac'.
A watercourse must at some period have run down this ravine, for the
boulders were rounded; but it was now quite dry. As the sides of the
mountains drew nearer, our path led along this watercourse, and the walking
became dreadfully fatiguing. The boulders were sometimes so close as to
render walking between impossible, and then it became necessary to clamber
over them, which, loaded as we were, was very painful. If, on the other
hand, we attempted to journey on the 'top' of the boulders, they were not
only of unequal heights, but sometimes so wide apart, that a good spring
was requisite to get from one to the other. Lizzie was the only one of the
party who appeared thoroughly at home; her light figure bounded from rock
to rock with the greatest ease and rapidity. Even Cato and Ferdinand,
barefooted as they were, seemed to be a long way from enjoying themselves,
and for us wretched Europeans, with our thick boots, that obtained scarcely
any foothold, we slipped about from the rounded shoulders of the rocks, in