I Could Distinctly See Some Enormous Trees At The
Foot Of The Mountain Near A Village, And I Hastened Forward, As I Hoped
To Procure A Guide Who Would Also Act As Interpreter, Many Of The
Natives In The Vicinity Of Gondokoro Having Learnt A Little Arabic From
The Traders.
We cantered on ahead of the party, regardless of the
assurance of our unwilling men that the natives were
Not to be trusted,
and we soon arrived beneath the shade of a cluster of most superb trees.
The village was within a quarter of a mile, situated at the very base of
the abrupt mountain; the natives seeing us alone had no fear, and soon
thronged around us.
The chief understood a few words of Arabic, and I offered a large
payment of copper bracelets and beads for a guide. After much discussion
and bargaining, a bad-looking fellow offered to guide us to Ellyria, but
no farther. This was about twenty-eight or thirty miles distant, and it
was of vital importance that we should pass through that tribe before
the trader's party should raise them against us. I had great hopes of
outmarching them, as they would be delayed in Belignan by ivory
transactions with the chief. While negotiations were pending with the
guide, the trader's party appeared in the distance, and avoiding us,
they halted on the opposite side of the village. I now tried
conciliatory measures, and I sent my vakeel to their headman Ibrahim to
talk with him confidentially, and to try to obtain an interpreter in
return for a large present.
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