434 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



On the 29th we accordingly made a start for the 

 river about 8 a.m. and struck it near Sasinkoro's 

 town about 1 p.m., having twice rested on the way, 

 as all the Kafirs were heavily laden with elephant's 

 meat. 



The Kafirs at Sasinkoro's reported a herd of 

 elephants amongst the islands, so I sent another 

 messenger to Mamele's to inform French of the fact, 

 and tellino^ him that we would await his arrival before 

 attacking them. 



On October i, I had a slight attack of fever, but 

 went out in the evening and shot two zebras. 

 Although I have not referred to it before, I may 

 here say that all this season, ever since reaching the 

 Mababe in the previous June, I had been troubled 

 by attacks of fever more or less severe, which had 

 made me rather thin and weak. This night we were 

 camped right out in the marsh, and surrounded on 

 all sides by lagoons of shallow water. It must have 

 wanted about an hour to daylight when we were 

 roused by the headman and informed that a Kafir 

 had just arrived who said there was a large elephant 

 bull not far off, which we must go and shoot instantly. 

 It appeared that the messenger was one of a small 

 party who had cut up the two zebras I had shot the 

 preceding evening, and hungup the meat to dry just 

 on the water's edge, about a couple of miles from 

 our camp. This man told us that as they were sitting 

 round their fire, making a night of it, they heard 

 an elephant drinking not far off, and presently saw 

 one come walking across the open ground straight 

 towards their camp, which they had made just on the 

 side of an ant-hill. When the elephant got quite 

 close up, and still came walking on, they thought he 

 was going to attack them, and, jumping up, ran 



