Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-08-10

were all well under way.
Ii took us an hour and more To
cross the cup of the volcanic plain, and
another half hour or so to climb the edge
on the further side. Once there, however.
the view was a very fine one. Before us
was long steep slope, some nine or ten
miles away, we could make ont dim sea
of marsh, ON which the foul vapors hung
like smoke about IA city. 1t was easy go
ing for the bearers down the slopes, and
by midday we had reached the borders of
the dismal swamp Here we halted to eat
our midday meal, and then. following a
winding and devious path plunged into
the morass. Presently the path, AT any
rate to our unaccuStomed eye, seemed to
grow so faint as TO be almost indistingush-
able from those made by the aquatic beasts
and birds, aud il is to this day mystery
TO me how our bearers found their way
across the marshes, Ahead Of the caval-
cade marched two men with long poles,
which they now and again plunged into
the ground before them, the reason being
that the nature of the soil frequently
changed from causes with which | am not
acquainted, 50 that places that would be
safe enough To cross one month would GER
tainly swallow the wayfarer the next.
Never did see a more dreary and de-
pressing scene. Miles on miles of quag-
mire. varied only by bright green strips of
comparatively solid ground, and by deep
aud sunken pools fringed with tall rushes,
in which the bitterns doomed and the
frogs croaked necessarily; miles on miles
of it without break unless the fever fog
can be called break. The only life in
this great morass was that of the aquatic
birds, and the animals that fed on them, of
both of which there were vast numbers.
Geese, cranes. ducks, teal. coots, snipe.
being of varieties that were quite new to
me, and all so tame that one could almost
have knocked them over with stick
Among these birds | especially noticed a
very beautiful variety of painted snipe,
almost the size of woodcock, and with a
flight more resembling that birds than an
English snipe's In the pools, too, was a
species of small alligator or enormous
lguana, do not know which, that fed,
Billali told me, upon the waterfowl, also
large quantities of hideous black water.
81, ,,lt no 70 u Il
not, | gathered, so deadly as a cobra's or a
puff-adder's. The bull-frogs were also
very large, and with voices proportinate
to their size and as for the mosquitoes,
they were. if possible even worse than
they had been on the river, and tormented
us greatly Undoubtedly, however, the
worst feature of the swamp was tina awful
smell of rotting vegetation that hung
about it, that was at times positively over
powering. and the malarious eXhalatons
that accompanied it. which we were. of
course, obliged TO breath.
On we went through it all, till at last
the sun sunk in sullen splendOr just as we
reached spot OF rising ground about two
acres in eXtent-a little oasis of dry land
in the midst of the miry Wilderness
where Bllali announced that we were To
camp. The camping, however, turned
out To be very simple process, and CON
| sisted in fact, in sitting down on the
ground round scanty fire made Of dry
reeds and some wood that had been
| brought with us. However, we made the
/ best we could of It, and smoked and eat
] TO bn e a
sitting heat would allow, for it was very
hot in this low land, and yet, oddly
enough, chilly at times. But however
| hot it was we were glad enough TO keep
near the fire. because be found that the
mosquitoes did not like the smoke Pres.
entity we rolled ourselves up in our blank.
cts and tried to 90 TO sleep, but so far as
/ was concerned the bull-frOgs, and the
extraordinary roaring and alarming sounds
/ produced by hundreds of snipes lowering
! high in the air. made sleep an impossible
! itv, TO say nothing of our other discom.
! forts ! turned and looked at Leo who
was next me- he was doing, but his face
/ bad a flushed appearance that | did not
/ like, and by the tlickerlng freight | saw
/ Ustane, who was lying on the other side
! of him raise herself from time to time
| upon her elbow and look at him anXiously
enough
However, could do nothing for him,
for we had already taken good dose Of
| quinine, which was the only preventive
We had; SO | lay and watched the stars
come out by thousands, till all tie i'm
mense arch of heaven was sown with
glttering points, and every point world
Here was a glorious sight, by which man
might well measure bis own inslgniticance!
Soon | gave up thinking about it, for the
mind wearies easily when it strives to
grapple with the infinite, or to trace the
| footsteps of the Almighty as He strides
| from sphere TO sphere, or deduce His
purpose from His works
Above me- as lay, shone the eternal
stars, and there at my feet the impish
marsh-born bolls Of fire rolled this way
and that, vapor-tossed and earth.desiring.
and methought that in the two saw a
type and image Of what man is, and what
perchance man may one day be, if the
Lying Force that ordained him and them
should so Ordain this also. Oh. that il
might be ours to rest year by year upon
that high level Of the heart to which at
times we mOmentarIlV attainl Oh tbat