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steeper and narrower, path through the jungle |
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As soon as the Shiong fields are behind us the path gets worse and steeper. It probably has not been cleared for a long time and we walk on a thick layer of trampled down reed and grass. I do not envy the people at the front of our train. With their daos they have cut a passage through the jungle which now grows high above us to the right and left and everyone coming after improves the path slightly cutting off a protruding branch here or an overgrowing creeper there. Sometimes we slip through a green tunnel and then again one after the other climb over a tree trunk lying across the way. When I jumped down from one of these obstacles I stepped on a slippery bamboo and fell to the ground. But I am not the only one who experiences this. Soon my paniwala slips, fortunately without the gun he is carrying going off. The path is now so steep that often we come to a standstill as everyone has to climb down slowly on hands and feet and the ones coming after gather closely. |
