excfept when it was nearly vertical: many a withered; pme impended
from their cliffs, and,' forsaken by the principle of life, rattled its dry
branches together, when agitated by' the wind. Here’was a solitude !
uninterrupted, ^lM Pe^:^any^ypii^ed,'beiag^ brute, of human; and
the swiftness of the river, I am sure, bade defiance to the efforts of any
of- the scaly tribes. We were inclosed in thes$ gloomy rwHds for the
space of about four miles, when we found-it necessary to dismount, and
ckmber up an immensely high and rocky mountain, which frequently
obliged us to have recourse to our hands and knees. I was
&e end of our journey, to see the ;Tanguns and all our' baggage
up with us, beforeit was dark, notwithstanding the difficulties I f
the Way;
These rugged and impracticable ways, certainly lessen the importance
°f those. military posts, we so lately passed, Dukka-jeuhgr and
Pare. The Booteeas, cannot possibly have a better security, than in
suchu chain of-inaccessible mountains, and in-tf® baire«nesa of ttfa^r
frontier.
We crossed the Patchieu, which was now considerably diminished,
for the last time, over a wooden bridge.
Bridges, in a country composed of mountains, and abounding with
torrents, must necessarily be very frequent; the traveller has commonly
some one to pass in every day’s journey. They are ofdifferenl
constructions, generally of timber; and, if the width of the river will
admit, laid horizontally from rock to rock. Over broader streams, a
triple or quadruple row of timbers, one row projecting over the other,
and inserted into the rock, sustain two sloping sides, which are united
by an horizontal;platform,, ofhneajflyi equal-length:;; thus' the ceniSe is;
of course,: .raised, yery^^bb>iab®Kertl®.ouiirfcht,iand;the,w,k»ie bridge
feim ihe-figure nearly'of threfe sidestoframebtaigonA Piers.'areialmoit
ffcqtallyi excluded; onydcdeiimt!.0fi rteipneipiral rheigtes^hjM vi£»fefeme
^apicjitMif the tivers.t;Tbe,.wkl,eat jayer ittBootah hasf artfefrWdgeii,
kfiaasistirig’Qfa number.ofsiro|uchains, whmfrfstmpnafti^ihafetedEplaffonn;
andAwo-ohains'jare- stretch^rfbdvqdp^rallel with-fhdlsa^tesutoi'allow
^af si^itteib ^ ’0§dfeo
■ passenger, whoriss-nopqufre tat hisq^adq^till hebhas dSfjdpds fr-pq* “th js
swinging unsteady footing. | Horses ,fus$permitted fioj|gaf;aber this
bridge, one>aJs aitime.
There is - another bridge, qfa moreisimple e^stn^sttun, for foot-passengers,
formed with, two parallel ^chainsround.-which’ creep.efst ase
loosely fwisted, sinking very much in-the middle, wherijsi|tab’k planks
are placed, the end of oite planki resting fipon tbejend'of thefother,-without
being confined; wMch forms* a* very gnttdqfop^ng.: .{Bherbris also
another mode; by which the’people of this country Gmtrive'to- crosp
deep chasms. Two ropes s*. commonly of rattan, or 'some stout arid
flexible osier, are stretched frbm.One'mountain to another, and encircled
by a hoop of the same. Thepassemgey places himself between them,
sitting in the hoop, and, seizing a rope irt- each hand, slides-himself
along with facility and speedy overr-an abyssx.tremendous to beheld.
Examples of all these kinds of bridges have occurred in the course of
our journey, as I have already related; j
1 W andipore, p . 13a. e Chuka, p . 55. f Selo, p.159.
* Mountains near Chuka, p.54.