he ravine narrowed so
considerably that the entire area was filled by the brawling torrent.

In eight hours the bold traveller and her guide had walked, waded, and
clambered some eighteen miles, and attained an elevation of fully
eighteen hundred feet. The lake itself was not visible until they came
upon its very margin, for it lies deep down in a dark hollow among lofty
precipices, which, with startling abruptness, descend to the edge of the
darkling waters. To cross the lake the traveller must trust to his
swimming powers, or to a curiously frail kind of boat which the natives
construct on the spot with equal skill and rapidity. Ida Pfeiffer was
nothing if not adventurous, and whatever was to be dared, she
straightway confronted. At her request, the guide turned boat-builder.
He tore off some branches of plantain, bound them together with long
tough grass, laid a few leaves upon them, launched them in the water,
and then requested Madame Pfeiffer to embark. She acknowledges to have
felt a little hesitation, but, without saying a word, stepped "on
board." Her guide took to the water like a duck, and propelled the crazy
craft, which, however, made the transit of the lake, and back again,
without accident.

Having fully satisfied herself with admiring the lake and its
surrounding scenery, she withdrew to a little nook thatched over with
leaves, where her guide quickly kindled a good fire in the Indian
fashion. Cutting a small piece of wood to a fine point, and then
selecting a second piece, which he grooved with a narrow and not very
deep furrow, in this he rubbed the pointed stick until the fragments
detached during the process began to smoke. These he flung into a heap
of grass and dry leaves previously collected, and swung the whole
several times round in the air until it ignited. The entire operation
did not occupy more than two minutes. Some roasted plantains served for
supper; after which Madame Pfeiffer retired to her lonely couch of dry
leaves, to sleep as best she might. Who will refuse a tribute of
admiration to the courage, self-reliance, and intrepidity of this
remarkable woman? Who but must admire her wonderful physical
capabilities? How many of her sex could endure for a week the exposure
and fatigue to which she subjected herself year after year?

The night passed without any eventful incident, and on the following
morning she accomplished the return journey in safety.

* * * *