ELEPHANT SKULLS 



the grass, which rose above my head, I suddenly fell 

 and found myself, on getting up, in the soft mud that 

 forms the river bed. At leng^th I emerged from the 

 swamp ; in front of me stretched a perfectly level 

 expanse of plain, devoid of all vegetation, through 

 which the river ran sluggishly in a very winding 

 channel. I could trace its course until it was lost to 

 sight in a narrow belt of bush some three or four 

 miles ahead. Still farther away some big trees 

 apparently grew along its banks, but everything was 

 distorted into curious and fantastic shapes by the 

 shifting mirage, and it was impossible to make 

 anything out distinctly. 



In the distance, to my right, I could see my camels 

 making their way towards the bush, where I had told 

 the headman to make camp, but they appeared unreal 

 and enormously magnified, and seemed to be floating 

 in the air, so strano^e was the effect of the shimmering 

 heat waves that rose from the baked brown earth. 

 I started across the plain in order to join my safari, 

 when my attention was attracted by what looked like 

 three enormous white stones. They proved to be the 

 skulls of elephants from which the tusks had been 

 extracted. They were probably victims of Borana 

 hunters, who, during the dry season, come down to 

 the Lorian in search of orame. I had been much 

 surprised that I had not seen, during my work in 

 Melka Waja and Arro Dima Swamps, any fresh signs 

 of elephant, buffalo, rhino or hippo. Old spoor was 

 plentiful, especially of elephant, but except for a few 

 zebra and gazelle and an occasional oryx, game was 

 conspicuous by its absence between Madoleh and 

 Melka Dera ("the long watering-place"), which is 

 the native name for the small district I was now in. 



214 



