novel repast than he sat down among them and almost
choked himself by cramming handfuls of the hot rice
and honey into his mouth, which yawned like that of
an old hippopotamus. The men did not at all approve
of this assistance, but as it is the height of bad manners
in Arab etiquette to repel a self-invited guest
from the general meal, he was not interfered with,
and was thus enabled to swallow the share of about
three persons.
Legge, although worse than the rest of his tribe,
had a similar formation of head. The Bari and those
of Tollogo and Ellyria have generally bullet-shaped
heads, low foreheads, skulls heavy behind the ears
and above the nape of the neck: altogether their
appearance is excessively brutal, and they are armed
with bows six feet long, and arrows horribly barbed
and poisoned.
CHAPTER V.
L E A V E E L L Y R IA .
Although Ellyria was a rich and powerful country,
we had not been able to procure any provisions—the
natives refused to sell, and their general behaviour
was such that assured me of their capability of any
atrocity had they been prompted to attack us by the
Turks. Fortunately we had a good supply of meal
that had been prepared for the journey prior to our
departure from Gondokoro, thus we could not starve.
I also had a sack of corn for the animals, a necessary
precaution, as at this season there was not a blade of
grass; all in the vicinity of the route having been
burnt.
We started on the 30th March, at 7.30 a .m . and
opened from the valley of Ellyria upon a perfectly flat
country interspersed with trees. After an hour’s march
we halted at a small stream of bad water. We had