166 
THE ELLYRIA PASS. 
[chap. IV. 
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 eveiything 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. It was in this spot that 
a traders party of 126 men, well armed, had been 
massacred to a man the year previous. 
Bad as the pass w r as, we had hope before us, as the 
