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.
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