To my surprise, they said they would prefer climbing up it, but it would be a good deal of trouble, and, after a little talking together, they said they would try.

They first went to a clump of bamboo that stood near, and cut down one of the largest stems.

From this they chopped off a short piece, and splitting it, made a couple of stout pegs, about a foot long and sharp at one end.

Then cutting a thick piece of wood for a mallet, they drove one of the pegs into the tree and hung their weight upon it.

It held, and this seemed to satisfy them, for they immediately began making a quantity of pegs of the same kind, while I looked on with great interest, wondering how they could possibly ascend such a lofty tree by merely driving pegs in it, the failure of any one of which at a good height would certainly cause their death.