CHAPTER V, 
LEAVE ELLYRIA. 
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 nieal 
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 hours march 
we halted at a small stream of bad water. We had 
kisras and honey for breakfast; but, for several days not 
having tasted meat, I took the rifle for a stroll through 
the forest in search of game. After an hours ramble 
I returned without having fired a shot. I had come 
upon fresh tracks of Tetel (hartebeest) and guinea- 
fowl, but they had evidently come down to the stream 
to drink, and had wandered back into the interior. If 
game was scarce, fruit was plentiful—both Richam 
and I were loaded with a species of yellow plum as 
large as an egg ; these grew in prodigious numbers 
