Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

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36 NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP, xv
the best in the country. At the commencement it
was pretty level, though very muddy in places, and
much obstructed by roots of trees and even by
fallen trunks stretching across the path ; while
overhead the branches and twiners hung so low
that I was compelled every now and then to duck
my
head to avoid a fate similar to that of Absalom.
They who opened the road had never calculated
that a long fellow like myself would have to
traverse it. Farther on were ups and downs
strewed with stones and often skirting declivities.
We traversed three considerable streams, tributaries
of the Cumbasa. The track invariably led straight
down to the water without any winding, and the
mules partly slid, partly walked down.