In some places the perpendicular height
of the rocks above the earth below could not be less than four hundred
feet.
On the 28th they proceeded about five miles and three-quarters. Not
being able to find water, they did not halt till five o'clock, when they
took up their station on the edge of the precipice. To their great
satisfaction they discovered, that what they had supposed to be sandy,
barren land below the mountain, was forest land, covered with good
grass, and with timber of an inferior quality. In the evening they
contrived to get their horses down the mountain by cutting a small
trench with a hoe, which kept them from slipping, where they again
tasted grass for the first time since they left the forest land on the
other side of the mountain. They were getting into miserable condition.
Water was found about two miles below the foot of the mountain. In this
day's route little timber was observed fit for building.
On the 29th, having got up the horses and laden them, they began to
descend the mountain at seven o'clock, through a pass in the rock about
thirty feet wide, which they had discovered the day before, when the
want of water put them on the alert.
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