128 THE ELEPHANT OF AFRICA. 



During the forenoon, we had seen many herds CH 

 quaggas, and antelopes of various kinds, which * 

 need not stop to enumerate ; but after mid-day, 

 we came upon the recent traces of a troop of 

 Elephants. Their huge foot-prints were every 

 where visible ; and in the swampy spots on the 

 banks of the river it was evident that some 01 

 them had been luxuriously enjoying themselves, 

 by rolling their unwieldy bulks in the ooze and 

 mud. But it was in the groves and jungles that 

 they had left the most striking proofs of their 

 recent presence and peculiar habits. In many 

 places, paths had been trodden through the midst 

 of dense thorny forests, otherwise impenetrable. 

 They appeared to have opened up these paths 

 with great judgment, always taking the best 

 and shortest cut to the next open savannah, or 

 ford of the river ; and in this way their labours 

 were of the greatest use to us by pioneering our 

 route through a most intricate country, never ye 

 traversed by a wheel-carriage, and great part of 

 it, indeed, not easily accessible even on horseback. 

 In such places, the great bull Elephant always 

 marches in the van, bursting through the jungle, 

 as a bullock would through a field of hops, tread- 

 ing down the brushwood, and breaking off with 

 his proboscis the larger branches that obstruct the 

 passage, whilst the females and younger part of 

 the herd follow in his wake. 



