There there was no slope but plenty of room above. some forty feet from the level where we were was a shelf. I thought that if I could get up there perhaps my light would drive the bats down and then catch them in the mosquito net trap. One of the boys dragged in a long pole and another brought a rope. I climbed the pole then threw my rope over one of the brace poles near the shelf. I tried my weight on the rope several times before I ventured up hand over hand. When I reached the pole I was a little uneasy about getting on top of it because it was resting on three to four inch shelves at either end and it was damp and slick. I wasn't going to quit then and I couldn't hang there much longer so I pulled myself over the pole. The shelf was about three feet from this pole. Three feet is a long way when footing is uncertain and there are hard rock walls below. By bracing