Tall grass with yellow flowers reached up to our waists, and we had to take long strides in order to advance.

We could hear the murmur of flowing water near by, and we sank ankle-deep into the marshy soil.

Presently the two hills parted; their barren sides were covered with short, stubby grass and here and there were big yellow patches of moss.

At the foot of one hill a stream wends its way through the drooping boughs of the stunted shrubs that grow on its edges, and loses itself in a quiet pond where long-legged insects disport themselves on the leaves of the water-lilies.

The sun beat down on us.