d we were able once more to proceed with certainty. I felt sure that
during the previous days we had made but little forward progress, having
gone rather towards the south or north, than on the course we wished to
follow. Had either of us been alone, we should, I again felt, have sunk
down and given up the struggle for life. At last we fell in with
another hummock, in which were several cabbage-palm trees. Weak as I
was, I managed to climb up and cut out the head of one of them, which
afforded each of us a meal, though we suffered somewhat from eating it.
I am afraid to say how many snakes we killed and ate. We certainly
devoured between us half-a-dozen lizards, and at last learned to make
frogs an ordinary article of diet. In spite of the food I have
mentioned, which though varied was insufficient, we felt conscious that
we were getting weaker and weaker. As I looked at Tim, I knew that he
could not hold out much longer; and though he did not say what he
thought of me, I believed that I was in a worse state. Often I detected
him turning his eyes towards me with a sad expression. He insisted on
carrying my gun and blanket, the weight of which greatly oppressed me.
At last, when we had been wandering about for nearly two weeks, a sudden
faintness came over me, and I sank to the ground. Tim threw himself by
my side.

"Ochohone, ochohone! What will I be afther doin', Mr. Maurice dear?" he
exclaimed. "Cheer up, cheer up! Sure we'll be gettin' to the river
before very long, and findin' some food which will give you strength."

As, however, I still felt unable to proceed, I proposed that he should
push forward alone, as I was sure we could not be very far from the
river. He might thus, at all events, have a chance of saving his own
life, although I might not recover. I urged him not to lose time, but
to try and find some food, hoping that a good meal would give me
strength to proceed. As I insisted on his doing this, he begged that he
might first carry me to a tree, at the foot of which he made up a bed
with our blankets; and leaving our guns by my side, he hurried across
the hummock. It appeared to me, however, that he was a long time
absent. I began to be afraid that some accident had happened to him,
when I saw him coming back, holding up a big racoon. This, though I
could eat but little of it, enabled me once more to proceed. Another
evening was approaching, and as yet no signs of the river appeared.