the sloping sides and be precipitated with the bicycle, if not into the river, into the reeds and rushes and mud, the depth of which is very uncertain.
When making up a bridge the natives usually take out the earth from the bank close to the side of the road, and these pits cannot be seen when the grass begins to grow again. One traveller, losing control of his machine descending the hill, thought the best plan to save his neck was to turn aside into the long grass; but, to his dismay, he rode into one of these pits. It was deep, but narrow. The front wheel of his bicycle struck the far side, and the rear wheel remained on the near side, the weight of the rider breaking the frame of the bicycle clean in two, and the rider falling between the two wheels into the bottom of the hole. A severe shaking was the only result to him, but not to his bicycle.
