Don Pepe’s Indians arrived after us and insisted upon lighting a large fire just outside the hut, with the object they said of keeping away tigers, and kept it burning like a bonfire as long as it was dark. At daylight José and myself and mule began the descent of the opposite slope of the sierra. I had been told that we should find this part of the journey very arduous, but it exceeded in difficulty anything that I had imagined. The track, or opening through the trees had almost disappeared, and we had to make our own way between detached masses of sharp, angular rocks. Frequently it was necessary to scramble over them or to slide down them, and it occasionally seemed to me that we were going at random down the side of the mountain. But what made our progress more than usually difficult was the fact that, in several places, decaying trunks of large trees had fallen across our path, and as it was not practicable to get the mule over them, we were obliged to diverge into the forest to pass round them. When it was thus necessary to quit our line of direction, José would instantly draw his machete and mark our movements by cutting down branches, so as to secure the means of retreat to our starting point, in case we failed to find the path again. I was quite aware of the importance of this action. It was astonishing to find how in a few seconds in a dense forest and amongst thick growth of underwood and creepers all knowledge of direction seems to be lost. The length of this precipitous descent was a little more than five miles, and we took four hours to accomplish the distance. During that time I never saw a glimpse of the sky, although I knew that, above the trees, the sun was shining brilliantly. In the forenoon we reached the banks of the Nopá, which ran at the base of the sierra, and halted there to rest. We then passed over the river, and pushed or cut our way through two leagues of dense forest and thick brushwood. There were also several small streams with low but steep and slippery banks that had to be crossed. Finally we reached and forded the river Michol. The worst was then over, and we emerged from the forest and saw before us a savannah where we decided to encamp. I obtained a slight shelter under the sloping roof of a little open hut, which had been left there by some passing Indians. Thus ended a most fatiguing day.