Page:Through China with a camera.pdf/226

 and there we swam about for some time. It was probably an imprudent thing, but it refreshed us for the moment. A few hours after this my friend became very ill, and had to lie down beneath the shade of some shrubs, in a place where there was not a drop of clear water to be procured for miles around. At his request I gave him a dose of quinine and iron, and after an hour's rest we resumed our march. I took a picture of one of the deep dry clay-pits of this region, and had to proceed ten miles farther on before I could get a drop of water to wash the plate and finish the negative. It turned out one of my finest pictures, nevertheless. On the hill above Baksa we halted at a hut and were there regaled with a cup of pure honey. Descending the ridge which I described at starting, my foot slipped, but fortunately I saved myself from the fearful fall by clinging to the sharp edges of the rock, cutting my hands badly in the accident.

But I must now quit this island, remarkable no less for its beauty than for the hospitality of its simple inhabitants. I after- wards travelled overland to Takow, for the purpose of visiting the haunts of the savages farther south, but they were at war with the Chinese, and their territory could not be entered with safety.