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IIARD WORK AND NO FOOD.
201
some rain, for about six hours; when, a little after
daybreak, I reached another ridge, from which the Vaage
Vand and the Otta were at last visible.
The lake is of considerable size, some twenty-five to
thirty miles long. I was at a great height above it,
probably 2,000 feet, and the descent is very steep. Seen
through the morning mist and my expectations, the
lake appeared to terminate at the point directly below
me, and the river there to begin, and continue onwards
to the right through a long, flat, shingle valley. As the
church and the station where I hoped to find some food
are marked in the map at about the junction of the river
with the lake, I determined to make a direct descent
down the steep slope; which, being thickly wooded, may
be safely done by clinging to the stems and branches
of the trees, and swinging down from one to the other.
Having been twenty hours without food or rest, I
found the requisite exertion very severe; I was faint
and giddy, made false steps, and missed my hold
occasionally: every such slip brought out a bath of
cool perspiration on my forehead, and seemed to jolt
all the viscera of my system; but the prospect of food
and lodging below urged me onward in my staggering
scramble. At last I emerged from the wood upon an
open slope of loose sliding drift, and saw below me a
good road, and, to my amazement, the lake continuing
to the right for many miles; for what I had supposed to
be a valley of shingles, with the river in the middle,
was the body of the lake. T am at a loss whether to
attribute this illusion to the ripple of the lake reflecting
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