THE WAYS OF THE ELEPHANT 67 



belt, a stretch five miles wide that completely 

 circles Mount Kenia between the altitudes of 

 nine thousand and eleven thousand feet. 



Travelling in the bamboo might be compared 

 to tramping through a field of giant rye or oats 

 from fifteen to fifty feet high. Elephant trails 

 sectioned and cross-sectioned each other in all 

 directions. The trails were so numerous that we 

 could travel in any direction, deviating but lit- 

 tle from our true course. 



Under the most favourable circumstances ele- 

 phant hunting is dangerous work, and in the 

 jungle, the thick bamboo, and the tall elephant- 

 grass this risk is multiplied ten times. One can 

 seldom see more than a few yards into the 

 thicket, and he is likely to overlook an elephant 

 standing a short distance away which on scent- 

 ing him is quite as liable to charge as not. 



October and November are the best months 

 of the year to study elephants at close range in 

 the bamboo belts on the high mountains, for it is 

 then that the cows leave the lowlands to feed 

 upon the tender bamboo shoots and to bring 

 forth their young. As may be imagined, much 

 of interest can then be learned in a very short 

 time, for a big elephant with a small one is pro- 



