Chapter Eight - Page 2

all the evils of our present condition, and
the sufferings we must undergo should we continue to remain where
we then were.

Anxious to draw him away from the subject, if possible--for I saw
that it would be in vain to attempt changing his mind--I directed
his attention to a long bright unwooded tract of land which,
sweeping down from the elevations in the interior, descended into
the valley before us. I then suggested to him that beyond this
ridge might lie a capacious and untenanted valley, abounding with
all manner of delicious fruits; for I had heard that there were
several such upon the island, and proposed that we should
endeavour to reach it, and if we found our expectations realized
we should at once take refuge in it and remain there as long as
we pleased.

He acquiesced in the suggestion; and we immediately, therefore,
began surveying the country lying before us, with a view of
determining upon the best route for us to pursue; but it
presented little choice, the whole interval being broken into
steep ridges, divided by dark ravines, extending in parallel
lines at right angles to our direct course. All these we would
be obliged to cross before we could hope to arrive at our
destination.

A weary journey! But we decided to undertake it, though, for my
own part, I felt little prepared to encounter its fatigues,
shivering and burning by turns with the ague and fever; for I
know not how else to describe the alternate sensations I
experienced, and suffering not a little from the lameness which
afflicted me. Added to this was the faintness consequent on our
meagre diet--a calamity in which Toby participated to the same
extent as myself.

These circumstances, however, only augmented my anxiety to reach
a place which promised us plenty and repose, before I should be
reduced to a state which would render me altogether unable to
perform the journey. Accordingly we now commenced it by
descending the almost perpendicular side of a steep and narrow
gorge, bristling with a thick growth of reeds. Here there was
but one mode for us to adopt. We seated ourselves upon the
ground, and guided our descent by catching at the canes in our
path. This velocity with which we thus slid down the side of the
ravine soon brought us to a point where we could use our feet,
and in a short time we arrived at the edge of the torrent, which
rolled impetuously along the bed of the chasm.

After taking a refreshing draught from the water of the stream,
we addressed ourselves to a much more difficult undertaking than
the last. Every foot of our late descent had to be regained in
ascending the opposite side of the gorge--an operation rendered
the less agreeable from the consideration