Manchurian Books

On seeing
my guide enter this fiery gulf, I was, I must confess, rather
frightened; but I felt assured, on reflecting, that he would
certainly not foolishly risk his own life, and that he must know
from experience that such places were passable.
At the entrance sat two negroes, to point out the direction that
wayfarers had to follow, and to recommend them to make as much haste
as possible. My guide translated for me what they said, and spurred
on his mule; I followed his example, and we both galloped at full
speed into the smoking pass. The burning ashes now flew around us
in all directions, while the suffocating smoke was even more
oppressive than the heat; our beasts, too, seemed to have great
difficulty in drawing breath, and it was as much as we could do to
keep them in a gallop. Fortunately we had not above 500 or 600
paces to ride, and consequently succeeded in making our way safely
through.
In the Brazils a conflagration of this kind never extends very far,
as the vegetation is too green and offers too much opposition.


Pages:
103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127