I Had Remarked That Women, And Sometimes Men,
Were Met In My Rambles Through The Forest, On Their Way To Belinian By
This Concealed Route, Instead Of Taking The Open Path; This Aroused My
Suspicion, As The Chief, Allorron, And His People Declared That They
Were Enemies Of The Belinian Natives.
The position had become intolerable.
The fact could no longer be
concealed that the Baris were hostile. No positive outbreak had
occurred, but the natives were sullen in their demeanour, and generally
avoided the new settlement. Butchers' meat was exceedingly scarce, as we
had only a few cows that had been given during the voyage by the vakeel
of the Bohr station. The troops were without rations of meat. At the
same time there were thousands of cattle on the islands before their
eyes, not one of which could be purchased from the natives. Although the
natives refused to assist us in any way, or to supply us with cattle at
any price, they drove their herds across from the island to the mainland
to fatten on the fine pasturage under the government protection. This
pasturage, having been abandoned by them and occupied by the government
troops, had naturally become the property of the Khedive. The natives
had no more right to the soil from which they had been driven, than the
French would have to Alsace and Lorraine, should those provinces be
occupied by a foreign Power which had driven out the Germans.
The last vessels having arrived, terminated the voyage from Tewfikeeyah,
which had occupied five months and twenty-two days.
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