Page:The Swiss Family Robinson (Kingston).djvu/378

332. It was thus very evident that the great snake, as well as the herd of peccaries, had made an entrance here.

This barricade was the first check that had been placed by hand of man upon the wild free will of nature in this lonely place.

With one consent storms, floods, torrents and the wild beasts of the forest, had set themselves to destroy it.

We resolved to make the defences doubly strong, being convinced that the position was capable of being barricaded and fortified so as to resist the invaders we dreaded.

The prospect which opened before us on emerging from the rocky pass was wide, and varied. Swelling hills and verdant wooded vales were seen on one hand, while a great plain stretched before us, extending from the banks of the river towards a chain of lofty mountains, whose summits were rendered indistinct in the haze of the distance.

We crossed the stream, which we named East River, filling our flasks with water, and it was well we did so, for in continuing our journey, we found the soil become more arid and parched than we had expected; in fact we soon appeared surrounded by a desert.

The boys were astonished at the altered appearance of the country, part of which had been explored when we met with the buffaloes. I reminded them of the difference of the season; that the expedition had been made directly after the rains, when vegetation had clothed with transient beauty this region, which, possessing no source of moisture in itself, had become scathed and bare during the blazing heat of summer.

Our march proceeded slowly, and many were the uncomplimentary remarks made on the “new country.”

It was “Arabia Petrea,” groaned one. “Desert of Sahara,” sighed another. “Fit abode for demons,” muttered a third. “Subterranean volcanic fires are raging beneath our feet.”

“Patience, my good fellows!” cried I; “you are too easily discouraged. Look beyond the toilsome way to those grand