Elephants in Camp 



The road was practically the bed of a stream, and 

 at one place the water was right up to my hips for 

 nearly a hundred yards. 



A little farther on I shot two buck for the pot, 

 and just as the sun was on the verge of dis- 

 appearing I reached camp. Before doing so I 

 passed a most beautiful shamba. It was very 

 extensive, and evidently belonged to a big chief. 

 The sunset tipped the leaves a delicious dreamy 

 colour, and everything combined to produce the 

 effect of coolness and restfulness, which was balm 

 to the soul after twelve hours' long trekking in the 

 wet and in tropical heat, embittered by a blank day. 

 The elephants had paid a visit to the camp only the 

 night before and played awful havoc. I saw the 

 place where they had gone off as a herd into the 

 "gubba." Everything had been mowed down in 

 front of them, forming a broad avenue of about fifty 

 yards wide straight into the depths of the wilds. 

 Trees had been wrenched from their roots, bushes 

 and grasses levelled and trampled down, and it 

 looked as if a vast steam roller had run amok. I 

 tried to picture to myself this huge herd moving 

 rapidly onward over every obstacle big and small. 

 It must have been a great sight. 



One of the factors in my annoyance during this 

 strenuous day was that my boy had so doctored my 

 drinking water with alum that I had to throw it 

 away. True, I got some from the swamps through 

 which we passed, but this was both muddy and 

 smelly, so that I drank very little On my way back, 



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