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14 the last to cross over, I went up to him and patted him on the head, but he did not take the slightest notice. Then, just as he was about to make a start, I caught hold of him by the tail, and followed.

Compared to the bridge of the Penguin, it was, of course, very unsteady. However, I managed to get across, narrowly escaping an accident, through a mischievous-looking monkey biting me on the foot. The first monkey to take hold now let go, and the line hung down as before, but from the tree on the opposite side. The one nearest the water climbed up the line to the branch; the others followed, and very soon the whole were across. I watched them till they were lost to view in the depths of the forest, then began the ascent of the range. This proved a very wearying task, for the range was steep, and I had to make many halts. Eventually, however, I succeeded in scaling one of the highest peaks. Here my feelings almost overcame me. There stretched far and wide in front an extensive, and, to all appearances, a populous country. There was no mistaking the fact now. Here was a new continent and a new civilization, the one all but unknown to the rest of humanity, the other independent in its origin. As far as the eye could reach, there stretched, in the direction of the Pole,