The sloping position of this liana rendered it comparatively easy to climb--at least, for me--so I determined to go up and explore; and having “swarmed” up it without much difficulty, I found the upper eight or nine feet of the tree, as I had expected, little more than a shell filled with the papery remains of the wood, into which I sank up to my waist. The tree would therefore answer our purpose admirably, but there was the difficulty of getting Aminé up to the hollow. I let myself down to the ground, and reported to her the state of things that I had found, on which she assured me that she was quite able to climb the monkey-rope. However, to diminish the risk of her falling, I cut a couple of fathoms of a thinner creeper, and passed it round her and the monkey-rope in a double figure of eight, so that it could, if necessary, take most of her weight; and having shown her how to manage it, I again ascended, leaving her to follow. She reached the top of the monkey-rope without mishap, and when I had disengaged her from the supporting loop, I helped her over into the hollow and pulled the loop in after, so that it should not remain to give a clue to our retreat. Once inside the hollow we were perfectly concealed from view, but by standing up we were able to look over the edge; and from our elevated position we could see a considerable distance in the direction from which our pursuers were to be expected, as we looked over the tops of the small trees with which most of the country was covered. As it was evidently impossible that the slave dealers could overtake us for some time yet, it occurred to me to go down once more and search the stream for shell-fish, for it would probably be necessary to remain in the tree the whole day, and it was necessary that we should have food of some kind. Bidding Aminé, therefore, to keep a sharp look-out, and let me know if she saw anyone approaching, I let myself down and commenced to systematically examine the bed of the stream. The clean silvery sand of which it was composed did not offer a very favourable hunting ground, but, after working industriously for over an hour, I managed to accumulate a dozen or two of miscellaneous shell-fish, mostly small mussels somewhat like affaní, and a kind of large water snail. These I stuffed, as I gathered them, into an empty weaver-bird’s nest, which I had fortunately found hanging from a branch near the water’s edge, and I had nearly filled this curious receptacle when I heard Aminé calling from the tree. “Quick! Yusufu! they are coming! Leave the shell-fish and climb up quickly!” I ran to the monkey-rope, and, grasping the narrow opening of the nest with my teeth, climbed up as rapidly as I could; and I had hardly scrambled over into the hollow when I heard the voices of our pursuers sounding from below. Very cautiously I put my eye to a broad crack in the bark and looked out.