He asked for a hatchet and one of ours was offered to him, but he preferred one of their own making.

With this tool he cut a small notch in the tree he intended to climb, about two feet and a half above the ground, in which he fixed the great toe of his left foot, and sprung upwards, at the same time embracing the tree with his left arm.

In an instant he had cut a second notch for his right toe on the other side of the tree into which he sprung, and thus, alternately cutting on each side, he mounted to the height of twenty feet in nearly as short a space as if he had ascended by a ladder, although the bark of the tree was quite smooth and slippery and the trunk four feet in diameter and perfectly strait.

To us it was a matter of astonishment, but to him it was sport; for while employed thus he kept talking to those below and laughing immoderately.

He descended with as much ease and agility as he had raised himself.