426 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



ing to a height of many feet gray funnels of ashes and 

 withered leaves. In places the coarse grass had half re- 

 sisted the flames, and rose above our heads. Here and 

 there bleached skulls of elephant and rhino, long dead, 

 showed white against the charred surface of the soil. Every- 

 where, crossing and recrossing one another, were game 

 trails, some slightly marked, others broad and hard, and 

 beaten deep into the soil by the feet of the giant creatures 

 that had trodden them for ages. The elephants had been 

 the chief road makers; but the rhinoceros had travelled 

 their trails, and also buffalo and buck. 



There were elephant about, but only cows and calves, 

 and an occasional bull with very small tusks. Of rhinoceros, 

 all square-mouthed, we saw nine, none carrying horns which 

 made them worth shooting. The first one I saw was in 

 long grass. My attention was attracted by a row of white 

 objects moving at some speed through the top of the grass. 

 It took a second look before I made out that they were 

 cow herons perched on the back of a rhino. This proved 

 to be a bull, which joined a cow and a calf. None had 

 decent horns, and we plodded on. Soon we came to the 

 trail of two others, and after a couple of miles' tracking 

 Kongoni pointed to two gray bulks lying down under a tree. 

 I walked cautiously to within thirty yards. They heard 

 something, and up rose the two pig-like blinking creatures, 

 who gradually became aware of my presence, and re- 

 treated a few steps at a time, dull curiosity continually over- 

 coming an uneasiness which never grew into fear. Toss- 

 ing their stumpy-horned heads, and twisting their tails 

 into tight knots, they ambled briskly from side to side, 

 and were ten minutes in getting to a distance of a hundred 



