ide belt of soft, fathomless mud
overgrown with mangrove trees; the mud being of such a consistency that
to attempt to walk upon it would mean being swallowed up and suffocated
in it, for a sixteen-foot oar could be thrust perpendicularly into it
with scarcely any effort, although when one of the men incautiously
tried the experiment, it was only with the utmost difficulty that he was
able to withdraw the oar, so tenaciously did the mud cling to it. Yet
it was not sufficiently liquid to allow of the gig being forced through
it, even if the thickly clustering mangrove roots would have permitted
of such a proceeding. The only alternative left to us, therefore, was
to endeavour to reach solid ground by clambering over the slippery
mangrove roots, with the possibility that at any moment one or another
of us might lose our footing, fall into the mud, and be swallowed up by
it. However, "needs must" under certain circumstances, the skipper and
I therefore scrambled out of the boat--taking Cupid with us to search
out the way and carry a small coil of light line in case it should be
wanted--and proceeded cautiously to claw our way like so many parrots,
over and among the gnarled and twisted roots of the mangrove trees, the
Krooboy leading the way, leaping and swinging himself with marvellous
agility from tree to tree, while we followed slowly in his wake, as
often as not being obliged to make a slip-rope of the line to enable us
to cross some exceptionally wide or awkward gap. In this manner, after
about half an hour's arduous toil, with the perspiration pouring out of
us until our clothes were saturated with it, while we were driven nearly
frantic by the attacks of the mosquitoes and stinging flies that beset
us by thousands, and could by no means be driven away, we contrived at
length to reach soil firm enough to support our weight, and, some five
minutes later, the solid ground itself.

But, even now, our troubles were only half over; for after we had
crossed the peninsula we still found it impossible to discover a spot
from which the interior of the creek could be seen without laying out
upon the roots of the mangrove trees that bordered the inner as well as
the outer shore of the peninsula, the wearisome business of crawling and
climbing had therefore all to be gone over again, with the result that
the sun was close upon setting before we had reached a spot from which a
clear view of the entire creek could be obtained.