DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0105
UNEXPECTED OBSTACLES.
89
when we came to a yawning and pr cipitous
chasm, opening its horrid jaws almost from the
very base of the mountain. From the distance at
which we had marked out our route, the inequali-
ties of surface could not be distinguished, but here
it was quite another thing. We stood on the
brink of the chasm, and looked at each other in
blank amazement; and at along distance, as they
wound along the base of the mountain, I thought
I could see a quiet smile of derision lighting up the
grim visages of my Bedouin companions. We
stood upon the edge of the chasm, looking down
into its deep abyss, like the spirits of the departed
lingering on the shores of the Styx, vainly wishing
for a ferryman to carry us over, and our case
seemed perfectly hopeless without some such aid.
But the days when genii and spirits lent their kind
assistance to the sons of men are gone ; if a man
finds himself in a ditch, he must get out of it as
well as he can, and so it was with us on the brink
of this chasm. Bad, however, as was our pros-
pect in looking forward, we had not yet begun to
look back ; and as soon as we saw that there was
no possibility of getting over it, we began to de-
scend ; and groping, sliding, jumping, and holding
on with hands and feet, we reached the bottom of
the gully ; and, after another hard half hour's toil,
were resting our wearied limbs upon the opposite
brink, at about the same elevation as that of the
place from which we had started.
This success encouraged us; and, without caring
89
when we came to a yawning and pr cipitous
chasm, opening its horrid jaws almost from the
very base of the mountain. From the distance at
which we had marked out our route, the inequali-
ties of surface could not be distinguished, but here
it was quite another thing. We stood on the
brink of the chasm, and looked at each other in
blank amazement; and at along distance, as they
wound along the base of the mountain, I thought
I could see a quiet smile of derision lighting up the
grim visages of my Bedouin companions. We
stood upon the edge of the chasm, looking down
into its deep abyss, like the spirits of the departed
lingering on the shores of the Styx, vainly wishing
for a ferryman to carry us over, and our case
seemed perfectly hopeless without some such aid.
But the days when genii and spirits lent their kind
assistance to the sons of men are gone ; if a man
finds himself in a ditch, he must get out of it as
well as he can, and so it was with us on the brink
of this chasm. Bad, however, as was our pros-
pect in looking forward, we had not yet begun to
look back ; and as soon as we saw that there was
no possibility of getting over it, we began to de-
scend ; and groping, sliding, jumping, and holding
on with hands and feet, we reached the bottom of
the gully ; and, after another hard half hour's toil,
were resting our wearied limbs upon the opposite
brink, at about the same elevation as that of the
place from which we had started.
This success encouraged us; and, without caring