The men were hungry. Before leaving Gondokoro I had ordered a large quantity of kisras (black pancakes) to be prepared for the march, and they were packed in a basket that had been carried on a camel; unfortunately Mrs. Baker's pet monkey had been placed upon the same camel, and he had amused himself during the night's march by feasting and filling his cheeks with the kisras, and throwing the remainder away when his hunger was satisfied. There literally was not a kisra remaining in the basket.
Every one lay down supperless to sleep. Although tired, I could not rest until I had arranged some plan for the morrow. It was evident that we could not travel over so rough a country with the animals thus overloaded; therefore determined to leave in the jungle such articles as could be dispensed with, and to rearrange all the loads.
At 4 A.M. I woke, and lighting a lamp, I tried in vain to wake any of the men who lay stretched upon the ground, like so many corpses, sound asleep. At length Saat sat up, and after rubbing his eyes for about ten minutes, he made a fire, and began to boil the coffee; meanwhile I was hard at work lightening the ship. I threw away about 100 lbs. of salt; divided the heavy ammunition more equally among the animals; rejected a quantity of odds and ends that, although most useful, could be forsaken; and by the time the men woke, a little before sunrise, I had completed the work. We now reloaded the animals, who showed the improvement by stepping out briskly. We marched well for three hours at a pace that bid fair to keep us well ahead of the Turks, and at length we reached the dry bed of a stream, where the Latooka guides assured us we should obtain water by digging. This proved correct; but the holes were dug deep in several places, and hours passed before we could secure a sufficient supply for all the men and animals. The great sponging-bath was excessively useful, as it formed a reservoir out of which all the animals could drink.
While we were thus engaged some natives appeared carrying with them the head of a wild boar in a horrible state of decomposition, and alive with maggots. On arrival at the drinking-place they immediately lighted a fire, and proceeded to cook their savoury pork by placing it in the flames. The skull becoming too hot for the inmates, crowds of maggots rushed pele-mele from the ears and nostrils like people escaping from the doors of a theatre on fire. The natives merely tapped the skull with a stick to assist in their exit, and proceeded with their cooking until completed; after which they ate the whole, and sucked the bones. However putrid meat may be, it does not appear to affect the health of these people.
My animals requiring rest and food, I was obliged to wait unwillingly until 4.30 P.M. The natives having finished their boar's head, offered to join us; and accordingly we rode on a considerable distance ahead of our people with our active guides, while the caravan followed slowly behind us. After ascending for about a mile through jungle, we suddenly emerged upon an eminence, and looked down upon the valley of Tollogo. This was extremely picturesque. An abrupt wall of grey granite rose on the east side of the valley to a height of about a thousand feet: from this perpendicular wall huge blocks had fallen, strewing the base with a confused mass of granite lumps ten to forty feet in diameter; and among these natural fortresses of disjointed masses were numerous villages. The bottom of the valley was a meadow, in which grew several enormous fig trees by the side of a sluggish, and in some places stagnant, brook. The valley was not more than half a mile wide, and was also walled in by mountains on the west, having the appearance of a vast street.
We were now about a mile ahead of our party; but accompanied by our two Latooka guides, and upon descending to the valley and crossing a deep gully, we soon arrived beneath a large fig tree at the extremity of the vale. No sooner was our presence observed than crowds of natives issued from the numerous villages among the rocks, and surrounded us. They were all armed with bows and arrows and lances, and were very excited at seeing the horses, which to them were unknown animals. Dismounting, I fastened the horses to a bush, and we sat down on the grass under a tree.
There were five or six hundred natives pressing round us. They were excessively noisy, hallooing to us as though we were deaf, simply because we did not understand them. Finding that they were pressing rudely around us, I made signs to them to stand off; when at that moment a curiously ugly, short, humped-back fellow came forward and addressed me in broken Arabic. I was delighted to find an interpreter, and requesting him to tell the crowd to stand back, I inquired for their chief. The humpback spoke very little Arabic, nor did the crowd appear to heed him, but they immediately stole a spear that one of my Latooka guides had placed against the tree under which we were sitting. It was getting rather unpleasant; but having my revolver and a double-barrelled rifle in my hands, there was no fear of their being stolen.
In reply to a question to the humpback, he asked me "Who I was?" I explained that I was a traveller. "You want ivory?" he said. "No," I answered, "it is of no use to me." "Ah, you want slaves!" he replied. "Neither do I want slaves," I answered. This was followed by a burst of laughter from the crowd, and the humpback continued his examination. "Have you got plenty of cows?" "Not one; but plenty of beads and copper." "Plenty? Where are they?" "Not far off; they will be here presently with my men;" and I pointed to the direction from which they would arrive. "What countryman are you?" "An Englishman." He had never heard of such people. "You are a Turk?" "All right," I replied; "I am anything you like." "And that is your son?" (pointing at Mrs. Baker.) "No, she is my wife." "Your wife! What a lie! He is a boy." "Not a bit of it," I replied; "she is my wife, who has come with me to see the women of this country." "What a lie!" he again politely re joined in the one expressive Arabic word, "Katab." After this charmingly frank conversation he addressed the crowd, explaining, I suppose, that I was endeavouring to pass off a boy for a woman. Mrs. Baker was dressed similarly to myself, in a pair of loose trowsers and gaiters, with a blouse and belt—the only difference being that she wore long sleeves, while my arms were bare from a few inches below the shoulder. I always kept my arms bare, as being cooler than if covered.
The curiosity of the crowd was becoming impertinent, when at an opportune moment the chief appeared. To my astonishment I recognised him as a man who had often visited me at Gondokoro, to whom I had given many presents without knowing his position.
In a few moments he drove away the crowd, screaming and gesticulating at there as though greatly insulted; re serving the humpback as interpreter, he apologized for the rudeness of his people. Just at this instant I perceived, in the distance, the English flag leading the caravan of camels and donkeys from the hillside into the valley, and my people and baggage shortly arrived. The chief now brought me a large pumpkin-shell containing about a gallon of merissa, or native beer, which was most refreshing. He also brought a gourd-bottle full of honey, and an elephant's tusk; the latter I declined, as ivory was not required.
We were now within six miles of Ellyria, and by means of the humpback I explained to Tombe, the chief, that we wished to start the first thing in the morning, and that I would engage the humpback as interpreter. This was agreed upon, and I now had hopes of getting through Ellyria before the arrival of the Turks. My caravan having arrived, the interest first bestowed upon the horses, as being a new kind of animal, was now transferred to the camels. The natives crowded round them, exclaiming, "that they were the giraffes of our country." They were amazed at the loads that they carried, and many assisted in unloading.
I noticed, however, that they stuck their fingers through the baskets to investigate the contents; and when they perceived twenty baskets full of beads, and many of copper bracelets—the jingling of which betrayed the contents—they became rather too eager in lending a helping hand; therefore I told the chief to order his men to retire while I opened one bag of beads to give him a present. I had a bag always in reserve that contained a variety of beads and bracelets, which obviated the necessity of opening one of the large baskets on the road. I accordingly made the chief happy, and also gave a present to the humpback. The crowd now discovered an object of fresh interest, and a sudden rush was made to the monkey, which, being one of the red variety from Abyssinia, was quite unknown to them. The monkey, being far more civilized than these naked savages, did not at all enjoy their society; and attacking the utterly unprotected calves of their legs, "Wallady" soon kept his admirers at a distance, and amused himself by making insulting grimaces, which kept the crowd in a roar of laughter. I often found this monkey of great use in diverting the attention of the savages from myself. He was also a guarantee of my peaceful intentions, as no one intending hostility would travel about with a monkey as one of the party. He was so tame and affectionate to both of us that he was quite unhappy if out of sight of his mistress: but he frequently took rough liberties with the blacks, for whom he had so great an aversion and contempt that he would have got into sad trouble at Exeter Hall. "Wallady" had no idea of a naked savage being "a man and a brother."
That night we slept soundly, both men and beasts being thoroughly fatigued. The natives seemed to be aware of this, and a man was caught in the act of stealing copper bracelets from a basket. He had crept like a cat upon hands and knees to the spot where the luggage was piled, and the sleepy sentry bad not observed him.
There was no drum-call on the following morning, that useful instrument having been utterly smashed by the camel; but I woke the men early, and told them to be most careful in arranging the loads securely, as we had to thread the rocky pass between Tollogo and Ellyria. I felt sure that the Turks could not be far behind us, and I looked forward with anxiety to getting through the pass before them.
The natives of both Tollogo and Ellyria are the same in appearance and language as the Bari; they are very brutal in manner, and they collected in large crowds on our departure, with by no means a friendly aspect. Many of them ran on ahead under the base of the rocks, apparently to give notice at Ellyria of our arrival. I had three men as an advance guard,—five or six in the rear,—while the remainder drove the animals. Mrs. Baker and I rode on horseback at the head of the party. On arriving at the extremity of the narrow valley we had to thread our way through the difficult pass. The mountain of Ellyria, between two and three thousand feet high, rose abruptly on our left, while the base was entirely choked with enormous fragments of grey granite that, having fallen from the face of the mountain, had completely blocked the pass. Even the horses had great difficulty in threading their way through narrow alleys formed of opposing blocks, and it appeared impossible for loaded camels to proceed. The path was not only thus obstructed, but was broken by excessively deep ravines formed by the torrents that during the rains tore everything before them in their impetuous descent from the mountains. To increase the difficulties of the pass many trees and bushes were growing from the interstices of the rocks; thus in places where the long legs of the camels could have cleared a narrow cleft, the loads became jammed between the trees. These trees were for the most part intensely hard wood, a species of lignum vitae, called by the Arabs "babanoose," and were quite proof against our axes. Had the natives been really hostile they could have exterminated us in five minutes, as it was only necessary to hurl rocks from above to insure our immediate destruction. It was in this spot that a trader's party of 126 men, well armed, had been massacred to a man the year previous.
Bad as the pass was, we had hope before us, as the Latookas explained that beyond this spot there was level and unbroken ground the whole way to Latooka. Could we only clear Ellyria before the Turks I had no fear for the present; but at the very moment when success depended upon speed, we were thus baffled by the difficulties of the ground. I therefore resolved to ride on in advance of my party, leaving them to overcome the difficulties of the pass by constantly unloading the animals, while I would reconnoitre in front, as Ellyria was not far distant. My wife and I accordingly rode on, accompanied only by one of the Latookas as a guide. After turning a sharp angle of the mountain, leaving the cliff abruptly rising to the left from the narrow path, we descended a ravine worse than any place we had previously encountered, and we were obliged to dismount, in order to lead our horses up the steep rocks on the opposite side. On arrival on the summit, a lovely view burst upon us. The valley of Ellyria was about four hundred feet below, at about a mile distant. Beautiful mountains, some two or three thousand feet high, of grey granite, walled in the narrow vale; while the landscape of forest and plain was bounded at about fifty or sixty miles' distance to the east by the blue mountains of Latooka. The mountain of Ellyria was the commencement of the fine range that continued indefinitely to the south. We were now in the very gorge of that chain. Below us, in the valley, I observed some prodigious trees growing close to a Hor (ravine), in which was running water, and the sides of the valley under the mountains being as usual a mass of debris of huge detached rocks, were thronged with villages, all strongly fortified with thick bamboo palisades. The whole country was a series of natural forts, occupied by a large population.
A glance at the scene before me was quite sufficient;—to fight a way through a valley a quarter of a mile wide, hemmed in by high walls of rock and bristling with lances and arrows, would be impossible with my few men, encumbered by transport animals. Should the camels arrive, I could march into Myria in twenty minutes, make the chief a large present, and pass on without halting until I cleared the Ellyria valley. At any rate I was well before the Turks, and the forced march at night, however distressing, had been successful. The great difficulty now lay in the ravine that we had just crossed; this would assuredly delay the caravan for a considerable time.
Tying our horses to a bush, we sat upon a rock beneath the shade of a small tree within ten paces of the path, and considered the best course to pursue. I hardly liked to risk an advance into Ellyria alone, before the arrival of my whole party, as we had been very rudely received by the Tollogo people on the previous evening;—nevertheless I thought it might be good policy to ride unattended into Ellyria, and thus to court an introduction to the chief. However, our consultation ended in a determination to wait where we then were, until the caravan should have accomplished the last difficulty by crossing the ravine; when we would all march into Ellyria in company. For a long time we sat gazing at the valley before us in which our fate lay hidden, feeling thankful that we had thus checkmated the brutal Turks. Not a sound was heard of our approaching camels; the delay was most irksome.