144: FEOM OLEXDA TO MAYOLO. Chap. VIIL 



but to my proposition that I slioiild remain behind 

 and take care of Macondai they opposed a decided 

 negative, on account of tlie risk of further robberies 

 if I sent the goods on without accompanying them 

 myself. The poor lad himself pra3'ed us to leave 

 him. " All your porters will desert you," said he, 

 "if you do not go on, and you will never reacb 

 Majolo." We finally decided to leave Igalo with 

 him at a plantation in the neighbourhood, and On- 

 donga promised, with every appearance of good will, 

 to send people to take care of him. 



We now continued our march. The country 

 became more and more picturesque at every step. 

 We were seven days on the road between the slave 

 village and Mayolo ; but this included considerable 

 stoppages, for the distance, in a straight line, is only 

 a little over thirty-five miles. The road is a narrow 

 track through a most varied and picturesque but 

 dense forest, clothing the hills and valleys of the 

 mountain range, which extends in a north and south 

 direction, between the Ashira and the Otando 

 territories. I call this the Otando range ; it is not a 

 continuous ridge, but is broken up into a great 

 number of hills, of greater or less elevation, with 

 steep slopes and narrow valleys ; the highest eleva- 

 tion at which I crossed the range was about .1,200 

 feet. The hills are of primitive rock ; and nume- 

 rous blocks of quartz lay strewed along the path 

 nearly all the way. Quartz crystals also covered 

 the beds of the sparkling brooks that flowed at the 

 bottom of every valley, all running in a north- 

 erly direction. The forest did not contain many 



