Tamai, We Were Told, Was Not More Than Three Or Four Leagues Distant;
So Making Allowances For A Wild Road,
A few hours to rest at noon,
and our determination to take the journey leisurely, we counted upon
reaching the
Shores of the lake some time in the flush of the
evening.
For several hours we went on slowly through wood and ravine, and over
hill and precipice, seeing nothing but occasional herds of wild
cattle, and often resting; until we found ourselves, about noon, in
the very heart of the island.
It was a green, cool hollow among the mountains, into which we at last
descended with a bound. The place was gushing with a hundred springs,
and shaded over with great solemn trees, on whose mossy boles the
moisture stood in beads. Strange to say, no traces of the bullocks
ever having been here were revealed. Nor was there a sound to be
heard, nor a bird to be seen, nor any breath of wind stirring the
leaves. The utter solitude and silence were oppressive; and after
peering about under the shades, and seeing nothing but ranks of dark,
motionless trunks, we hurried across the hollow, and ascended a steep
mountain opposite.
Midway up, we rested where the earth had gathered about the roots of
three palms, and thus formed a pleasant lounge, from which we looked
down upon the hollow, now one dark green tuft of woodland at our
feet. Here we brought forth a small calabash of "poee" a parting
present from Tonoi.
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