[figure description] Page 072.[end figure description]

The fearless confidence of Toby was contagious, and I began to
adopt the Happar side of the question. I could not, however,
overcome a certain feeling of trepidation as we made our way
along these gloomy solitudes. Our progress, at first comparatively
easy, became more and more difficult. The bed of the
watercourse was covered with fragments of broken rocks, which
had fallen from above, offering so many obstructions to the course
of the rapid stream, which vexed and fretted about them,—
forming at intervals small waterfalls, pouring over into deep basins,
or splashing wildly upon heaps of stones.

From the narrowness of the gorge, and the steepness of its
sides, there was no mode of advancing but by wading through
the water; stumbling every moment over the impediments which
lay hidden under its surface, or tripping against the huge roots
of trees. But the most annoying hindrance we encountered was
from a multitude of crooked boughs, which, shooting out almost
horizontally from the sides of the chasm, twisted themselves
together in fantastic masses almost to the surface of the stream,
affording us no passage except under the low arches which they
formed. Under these we were obliged to crawl on our hands
and feet, sliding along the oozy surface of the rocks, or slipping
into the deep pools, and with scarce light enough to guide us.
Occasionally we would strike our heads against some projecting
limb of a tree; and while imprudently engaged in rubbing the

[figure description] Page 073.[end figure description]

injured part, would fall sprawling amongst filthy fragments,
cutting and bruising ourselves, whilst the unpitying waters flowed
over our prostrate bodies. Belzoni, worming himself through
the subterranean passages of the Egyptian catacombs, could not
have met with greater impediments than those we here encountered.
But we struggled against them manfully, well knowing
our only hope lay in advancing.

Towards sunset we halted at a spot where we made preparations
for passing the night. Here we constructed a hut, in much
the same way as before, and crawling into it, endeavoured to
forget our sufferings. My companion, I believe, slept pretty
soundly; but at daybreak, when we rolled out of our dwelling,
I felt nearly disqualified for any further efforts. Toby prescribed
as a remedy for my illness the contents of one of our
little silk packages, to be taken at once in a single dose. To
this species of medical treatment, however, I would by no means
accede, much as he insisted upon it; and so we partook of our
usual morsel, and silently resumed our journey. It was now the
fourth day since we left Nukuheva, and the gnawings of hunger
became painfully acute. We were fain to pacify them by chewing
the tender bark of roots and twigs, which, if they did not
afford us nourishment, were at least sweet and pleasant to the taste.

Our progress along the steep watercourse was necessarily slow,
and by noon we had not advanced more than a mile. It was
somewhere near this part of the day that the noise of falling
waters, which we had faintly caught in the early morning, became
more distinct; and it was not long before we were arrested
by a rocky precipice of nearly a hundred feet in depth, that
extended all across the channel, and over which the wild stream
poured in an unbroken leap. On either hand the walls of the
ravine presented their overhanging sides both above and below
the fall, affording no means whatever of avoiding the cataract by
taking a circuit round it.

[figure description] Page 074.[end figure description]

“What's to be done now, Toby?” said I.

“Why,” rejoined he, “as we cannot retreat, I suppose we must
keep shoving along.”

“Very true, my dear Toby; but how do you purpose accomplishing
that desirable object?”

“By jumping from the top of the fall, if there be no other
way,” unhesitatingly replied my companion: “it will be much
the quickest way of descent; but as you are not quite as active
as I am, we will try some other way.”

And, so saying, he crept cautiously along and peered over
into the abyss, while I remained wondering by what possible
means we could overcome this apparently insuperable obstruction.
As soon as my companion had completed his survey, I eagerly
inquired the result.

“The result of my observations you wish to know, do you?”
began Toby, deliberately, with one of his odd looks: “well, my
lad, the result of my observations is very quickly imparted. It
is at present uncertain which of our two necks will have the
honor to be broken first; but about a hundred to one would be a
fair bet in favor of the man who takes the first jump.”

“Then it is an impossible thing, is it?” inquired I gloomily.

“No, shipmate; on the contrary, it is the easiest thing in life:
the only awkward point is the sort of usage which our unhappy
limbs may receive when we arrive at the bottom, and what sort
of travelling trim we shall be in afterwards. But follow me now,
and I will show you the only chance we have.”

With this he conducted me to the verge of the cataract, and
pointed along the side of the ravine to a number of curious
looking roots, some three or four inches in thickness, and several
feet long, which, after twisting among the fissures of the rock,
shot perpendicularly from it and ran tapering to a point in the
air, hanging over the gulf like so many dark icicles. They
covered nearly the entire surface of one side of the gorge, the

[figure description] Page 075.[end figure description]

lowest of them reaching even to the water. Many were mossgrown
and decayed, with their extremities snapped short off, and
those in the immediate vicinity of the fall were slippery with
moisture.

Toby's scheme, and it was a desperate one, was to entrust ourselves
to these treacherous-looking roots, and by slipping down
from one to another to gain the bottom.

“Are you ready to venture it?” asked Toby, looking at me
earnestly, but without saying a word as to the practicability of
the plan.

“I am,” was my reply; for I saw it was our only resource if
we wished to advance, and as for retreating, all thoughts of that
sort had been long abandoned.

After I had signified my assent, Toby, without uttering a
single word, crawled along the dripping ledge until he gained a
point from whence he could just reach one of the largest of the
pendant roots; he shook it—it quivered in his grasp, and when
he let it go it twanged in the air like a strong wire sharply struck.
Satisfied by his scrutiny, my light-limbed companion swung himself
nimbly upon it, and twisting his legs round it in sailor fashion,
slipped down eight or ten feet, where his weight gave it a motion
not unlike that of a pendulum. He could not venture to descend
any further; so holding on with one hand, he with the other
shook one by one all the slender roots around him, and at last,
finding one which he thought trustworthy, shifted himself to it
and continued his downward progress.

So far so well; but I could not avoid comparing my heavier
frame and disabled condition with his light figure and remarkable
activity; but there was no help for it, and in less than a minute's
time I was swinging directly over his head. As soon as his upturned
eyes caught a glimpse of me, he exclaimed in his usual
dry tone, for the danger did not seem to daunt him in the least,
“Mate, do me the kindness not to fall until I get out of your

[figure description] Page 076.[end figure description]

way;” and then swinging himself more on one side, he continued
his descent. In the mean time I cautiously transferred myself
from the limb down which I had been slipping to a couple of
others that were near it, deeming two strings to my bow better
than one, and taking care to test their strength before I trusted
my weight to them.

On arriving towards the end of the second stage in this vertical
journey, and shaking the long roots which were round me, to
my consternation they snapped off one after another like so many
pipe stems, and fell in fragments against the side of the gulf,
splashing at last into the waters beneath.

As one after another the treacherous roots yielded to my grasp,
and fell into the torrent, my heart sunk within me. The
branches on which I was suspended over the yawning chasm
swang to and fro in the air, and I expected them every moment to
snap in twain. Appalled at the dreadful fate that menaced me,
I clutched frantically at the only large root which remained near
me, but in vain; I could not reach it, though my fingers were
within a few inches of it. Again and again I tried to reach it,
until at length, maddened with the thought of my situation, I
swayed myself violently by striking my foot against the side
of the rock, and at the instant that I approached the large root
caught desperately at it, and transferred myself to it. It vibrated
violently under the sudden weight, but fortunately did not give way.

My brain grew dizzy with the idea of the frightful risk I had
just run, and I involuntarily closed my eyes to shut out the view
of the depth beneath me. For the instant I was safe, and I uttered
a devout ejaculation of thanksgiving for my escape.

“Pretty well done,” shouted Toby underneath me; “you
are nimbler than I thought you to be—hopping about up
there from root to root like any young squirrel. As soon as
you have diverted yourself sufficiently, I would advise you to
proceed.”

[figure description] Page 077.[end figure description]

“Aye, aye, Toby, all in good time: two or three more such
famous roots as this, and I shall be with you.”

The residue of my downward progress was comparatively easy;
the roots were in greater abundance, and in one or two places
jutting out points of rock assisted me greatly. In a few moments
I was standing by the side of my companion.

Substituting a stout stick for the one I had thrown aside
at the top of the precipice, we now continued our course along
the bed of the ravine. Soon we were saluted by a sound
in advance, that grew by degrees louder and louder, as the
noise of the cataract we were leaving behind gradually died on
our ears.

“Another precipice for us, Toby.”

“Very good; we can descend them, you know—come on.”

Nothing indeed appeared to depress or intimidate this intrepid
fellow. Typees or Niagaras, he was as ready to engage one as
the other, and I could not avoid a thousand times congratulating
myself upon having such a companion in an enterprise like the
present.

After an hour's painful progress, we reached the verge of another
fall, still loftier than the preceding, and flanked both above
and below with the same steep masses of rock, presenting, however,
here and there narrow irregular ledges, supporting a shallow
soil, on which grew a variety of bushes and trees, whose bright
verdure contrasted beautifully with the foamy waters that flowed
between them.

Toby, who invariably acted as pioneer, now proceeded to reconnoitre.
On his return, he reported that the shelves of rock
on our right would enable us to gain with little risk the bottom of
the cataract. Accordingly, leaving the bed of the stream at the
very point where it thundered down, we began crawling along one
of these sloping ledges until it carried us to within a few feet of
another that inclined downward at a still sharper angle, and upon

[figure description] Page 078.[end figure description]

which, by assisting each other, we managed to alight in safety.
We warily crept along this, steadying ourselves by the naked
roots of the shrubs that clung to every fissure. As we proceeded,
the narrow path became still more contracted, rendering it difficult
for us to maintain our footing, until suddenly, as we reached
an angle of the wall of rock where we had expected it to widen,
we perceived to our consternation that a yard or two further on
it abruptly terminated at a place we could not possibly hope to
pass.

Toby as usual led the van, and in silence I waited to learn from
him how he proposed to extricate us from this new difficulty.

“Well, my boy,” I exclaimed, after the expiration of several
minutes, during which time my companion had not uttered a
word: “What's to be done now?”

He replied in a tranquil tone, that probably the best thing we
could do in the present strait was to get out of it as soon as
possible.

“Yes, my dear Toby, but tell me how we are to get out of it.”

“Something in this sort of style,” he replied; and at the same
moment to my horror he slipped sideways off the rock, and, as I
then thought, by good fortune merely alighted among the spreading
branches of a species of palm tree, that shooting its hardy roots
along a ledge below, curved its trunk upwards into the air, and
presented a thick mass of foliage about twenty feet below the spot
where we had thus suddenly been brought to a stand-still. I involuntarily
held my breath, expecting to see the form of my
companion, after being sustained for a moment by the branches
of the tree, sink through their frail support, and fall headlong to
the bottom. To my surprise and joy, however, he recovered himself,
and disentangling his limbs from the fractured branches, he
peered out from his leafy bed, and shouted lustily, “Come on, my
hearty, there is no other alternative!” and with this he ducked
beneath the foliage, and slipping down the trunk, stood in a moment

[figure description] Page 079.[end figure description]

at least fifty feet beneath me, upon the broad shelf of rock from
which sprung the tree he had descended.

What would I not have given at that moment to have been by
his side? The feat he had just accomplished seemed little less
than miraculous, and I could hardly credit the evidence of my
senses when I saw the wide distance that a single daring act had
so suddenly placed between us.

Toby's animating “come on!” again sounded in my ears, and
dreading to lose all confidence in myself if I remained meditating
upon the step, I once more gazed down to assure myself of the
relative bearing of the tree and my own position, and then closing
my eyes and uttering one comprehensive ejaculation of prayer, I
inclined myself over 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.

[figure description] Page 080.[end figure description]

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 labors 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 makes me shudder. A small table of rock which
projected over the precipice on one side of the stream, and was
drenched by the spray of the fall, sustained a huge trunk of a
tree which must have been deposited there by some heavy freshet.
It lay obliquely, with one end resting on the rock and the other
supported by the side of the ravine. Against it we placed in a
sloping direction a number of the half-decayed boughs that were
strewn about, and covering the whole with twigs and leaves,
awaited the morning's light beneath such shelter as it afforded.

During the whole of this night the continual roaring of the
cataract—the dismal moaning of the gale through the trees—the
pattering of the rain, and the profound darkness, affected my
spirits to a degree which nothing had ever before produced. Wet,

[figure description] Page 081.[end figure description]

half-famished, and chilled to the heart with the dampness of the
place, and nearly wild with the pain I endured, I fairly cowered
down to the earth under this multiplication of hardships, and
abandoned myself to frightful anticipations of evil; and my companion,
whose spirit at last was a good deal broken, scarcely uttered
a word during the whole night.

At length the day dawned upon us, and rising from our miserable
pallet, we stretched our stiffened joints, and after eating
all that remained of our bread, prepared for the last stage of our
journey.

I will not recount every hair-breadth escape, and every fearful
difficulty that occurred before we succeeded in reaching the
bosom of the valley. As I have already described similar scenes,
it will be sufficient to say that at length, after great toil and great
dangers, we both stood with no limbs broken at the head of that
magnificent vale which five days before had so suddenly burst
upon my sight, and almost beneath the shadow of those very
cliffs from whose summits we had gazed upon the prospect.

p273-107

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