464 
ATTACKED IN THE PASS. 
[chap. XVII. 
entered the pass, when—-whizz went an arrow over 
onr heads. This was the signal for a repeated dis¬ 
charge. The natives ran among the rocks with the 
agility of monkeys, and showed a considerable amount 
of daring in standing within about eighty yards upon 
the ridge, and taking steady shots at us with their 
poisoned arrows. The flanking parties now opened fire, 
and what with the bad shooting of both the escort and 
the native archers, no one was wounded on either side 
for the first ten minutes. The rattle of musketry, and 
the wild appearance of the naked vermilion-coloured 
savages, as they leapt along the craggy ridge, twanging 
their bows at us with evil but ineffectual intent, was a 
charming picture of African life and manners. Fortu¬ 
nately the branches of numerous trees and intervening 
clumps of bamboo frustrated the good intentions of the 
arrows, as they glanced from their aim ; and although 
some fell among our party, we were as yet unscathed. 
One of the enemy, who was most probably a chief, 
distinguished himself in particular, by advancing to 
within about fifty yards, and standing on a rock, he 
deliberately shot five or six arrows, all of which missed 
their mark; the men dodged them as they arrived in their 
uncertain flight: the speed of the arrows was so inferior, 
owing to the stiffness of the bows, that nothing was 
easier than to evade them. Any halt was unnecessary. 
We continued our march through the gorge, the men 
keeping up an unremitting fire until we entered upon 
a tract of high grass and forest; this being perfectly 
dry, it would have been easy to set it on fire, as the 
enemy were to leeward ; but although the rustling in 
the grass betokened the presence of a great number of 
men, they were invisible. In a few minutes we 
emerged in a clearing, where corn had been planted ; 
this was a favourable position for a decisive attack 
upon the natives, who now closed up. Throwing out 
skirmishers, with orders that they were to cover them¬ 
selves behind the trunks of trees, the Baris were driven 
back. One was now shot through the body and fell; 
