He said: "My family is near and dear to me.

I can see by the growth of the timber that we are in a very elevated place.

This is now the seventh of November, it being the fourth at the time of our turning off on this trail.

We are evidently in a country where snow is liable to fall at any time in the winter season, and if we were to remain here and be caught in a severe storm we should all probably perish.

I, for one, feel in duty bound to seek a safer way than this.