The chief of Ellyria now came to inspect my luggage, and demanded fifteen heavy copper bracelets and a large quantity of beads. The bracelets most in demand are simple rings of copper five-eighths of an inch thick, and weighing about a pound; those of smaller size not being so much valued. I gave him fifteen such rings, and about ten pounds of beads in varieties, the red coral porcelain (dimiriaf) being the most acceptable. Legge was by no means satisfied: he said "his belly was very big and it must be filled," which signified, that his desire was great and must be gratified. I accordingly gave him a few extra copper rings; but suddenly he smelt spirits, one of the few bottles that I possessed of spirits of wine having broken in the medicine chest. Ibrahim begged me to give him a bottle to put him in a good humour, as he enjoyed nothing so much as araki; I accordingly gave him a pint bottle of the strongest spirits of wine. To my amazement he broke off the neck, and holding his head well back, he deliberately allowed the whole of the contents to trickle down his throat as innocently as though it had been simple water. He was thoroughly accustomed to it, as the traders were in the habit of bringing him presents of araki every season. He declared this to be excellent, and demanded another bottle. At that moment a violent storm of thunder and rain burst upon us with a fury well known in the tropics; the rain fell like a waterspout, and the throng immediately fled for shelter. So violent was the storm, that not a man was to be seen: some were sheltering themselves under the neighbouring rocks; while others ran to their villages that were close by; the trader's people commenced a fusilade, firing off all their guns lest they should get wet and miss fire. I could not help thinking how completely they were at the mercy of the natives at that moment, had they chosen to attack them; the trader's party were lying under their untanned ox-hides with their empty guns. Each of my men was provided with a piece of mackintosh, with which his gunlocks were secured. We lay upon an angarep covered with a bull's hide until the storm was over. The thunder was magnificent, exploding on the peak of the mountain exactly above us, and in the course of a quarter of an hour torrents were rushing down the ravines among the rocks, the effects of the violent storm that had passed away as rapidly as it had arrived.