AND THE CONGO POREST 



207 



Tiair of some of these gorillas was quite grey on the head and shoulders, 

 no doubt from age. The leopards in this forest are exceedingly dreaded 

 by the natives, and the stories of their man-eating habits are innumerable. 

 They are particularly dangerous to women and children. 



The elephant inhabits these forests in large numbers, but he appears 

 to frequent with equal relish the savannahs and open grassy plains of the 

 Semliki Kiver and of Busongora, at the south end of Riiwenzori. On our 

 return journey through the Congo Forest we halted at the edge of a 



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^ 



YOUNG MALE ELEPHANT KILLED IN KUAHARA GORGE. 



picturesque gorge of the Kuahara Kiver. This is a small stream which 

 has in eoiu'se of time widened for itself a profound gorge in the i)lain of 

 Busongora that would be large enough for a Hudson and deep enough for 

 a Colorado. Gazing across this gorge one evening, we saw an immense 

 herd of elephants coming toward us, seeming in the distance very lilack 

 in colour against the pale straw-yellow of the dry, short grass of the 

 plains, but with white gleaming tusks, each elephant looking extra- 

 ordinarily like the Eastern carvings of black ebony elephants with ivory 

 tusks that are to be seen in every Chinese and Japanese collection. 

 When they reached the precipitous descent to the Kuahara gorge, I 



