THE PACHYDERMS 47 



numbers in the almost unknown and unexplored 

 regions lying between the borders of Abyssinia and 

 Gallaland and the Nile. About the western, northern, 

 and eastern regions of the great lakes, the Victoria 

 Albert Nyanza, elephants are still plentiful in places, 

 while in the vast Congo hinterland, in spite of the 

 ravages of the hunters employed by Belgian officials, 

 plenty of the great tusk bearers may yet be en- 

 countered. Here and there, too, behind the coast 

 regions of Ashanti, Nigeria, the Gold Coast, and 

 other colonies, elephants are to be found in fair 

 numbers ; the country is difficult of access, and not 

 many white men choose to incur the climatic risks of 

 these unhealthy regions, and the tremendous labour 

 of pursuing these animals on foot in the exhausting 

 heat of the hottest and most uncomfortable parts of 

 Equatorial Africa. 



It is to be remembered always that, at the present 

 time, the hunter cannot range so freely in pursuit of 

 elephants as he could a score of years ago or less. 

 Here and there he may find happy hunting-grounds, 

 where the white man's laws run not, and the sway of 

 civilisation is utterly unknown. But there are not 

 many such places in Africa since its partitionment, 

 and before setting forth to hunt these animals the 

 sportsman will find it necessary to make himself 

 carefully acquainted with the various game laws and 

 protective regulations of the territories in which he is 

 to make his expedition. In Abyssinia, for instance, 



Bahr-el-Ghazal Province. Special permits for travel and sport in those regions 

 will only be granted under exceptional circumstances. 



