214 ROUTE THROUGH THE FOREST. 



awaiting his approach. On he came, and when with- 

 in twenty-five yards I took a steady aim at his fore- 

 head, and the river-horse fell to rise no more. He 

 was a huge bull, enormously fat. In a few minutes 

 all the men I had left cutting out the tusks were 

 dancing round him, and at 8 a.m., several separate 

 piarties .having arrived from the village, amounting 

 in all to over two hundred souls, not a vestige of 

 either the elephant or hippopotaums remained to be 

 seen save their bare bones. I was much disgusted by 

 seeing these people eating the meat raw as they cut 

 it off the carcass, and remarked on it to Mobita, but 

 he said that they always did so. 



At 12.30, having taken the tusks and hippopotamus 

 teeth, I ag^in started on my way. Our route for the 

 greater part of the day lay through stunted forest- 

 land, totally devoid of vegetation. In most parts of it 

 there was not a blade of grass to be seen, and the 

 ground was hard and stony. My intention was to 

 strike the Rivi Rivi river, which my men said we 

 should do about sunset, and camp by it for the night. 

 The day was hot in the extreme, and again our water 

 showed symptoms of running short. In consequence 

 of this it was decided that no spoor should tempt us 

 to leave our course. However, as luck would have 

 it, when we had finished our last drop of water, and 

 were supposed to be within an hour's walk of the 

 Rivi Rivi, I suddenly found myself within sixty 

 yards of seven elephants, standing closely packed 

 together in a group under a large tree, and evi- 

 dently asleep. Followed by the two Makololos, 

 carrying a spare gun each, I stalked to within thirty 



