A Few Rose
From The Ground Ashamed, And Assisted To Load The Camels, While The
Others Declared The Impossibility Of Camels Travelling By The Road We
Were About To Take, As The Turks Had Informed Them That Not Even The
Donkeys Could March Through The Thick Jungles Between Belignan And
Ellyria.
"All right, my brothers!" I replied; "then we'll march as far as the
donkeys can go, and leave both them and the baggage on the road when
they can go no farther; but I GO FORWARD."
With sullen discontent the men began to strap on their belts and
cartouche boxes, and prepare for the start. The animals were loaded, and
we moved slowly forward at 4.30 P.M. The country was lovely. The
mountain of Belignan, although not exceeding 1,200 feet, is a fine mass
of gneiss and syenite, ornamented in the hollows with fine trees, while
the general appearance of the country at the base was that of a
beautiful English park well timbered and beautified with distant
mountains. We had just started with the Bari guide that I had engaged at
Belignan, when we were suddenly joined by two of the Latookas whom I had
seen when at Gondokoro, and to whom I had been very civil. It appeared
that these fellows, who were acting as porters to the Turks, had been
beaten, and had therefore absconded and joined me. This was
extraordinary good fortune, as I now had guides the whole way to
Latooka, about ninety miles distant.
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