AND THE CONGO FOREST 



207 



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

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

 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 River and of Busongora, at the south end of liuwenzori. On our 

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



I08. YOUNG MALE ELEPHANT KILLED IN KUAHARA GOKUE. 



picturesque gorge of the Ruahara River. Tliis is a small stream which 

 has in course of time widened for itself a profound gorge in the })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 black 

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

 plains, liut 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 tlie precipitous descent to the Ruahara gorge, I 



