THE RAINY SEASON 



We start, concealed in the great bush, searching for 

 a fresh trail of elephants. At nine o'clock, in the dry 

 bed of a tributary of the Nioronga, we detect the foot- 

 prints of a young male which had passed there a few 

 hours before. We follow the trail, which leads us to 

 a marsh where our animal had joined a band of a 

 dozen of his relations. The whole 1 number, after 

 having satisfied their thirst, rolled themselves in the 

 mud, making great troughs, in which gigantic wild 

 boars appear to have wallowed. The pursuit is con- 

 tinued silently and persistently. It is now one o'clock, 

 we have not found a single drop of drinkable water, 

 and the sun is terrific. I sit down for a moment, 

 during which the negroes tell me that we shall soon 

 see the elephants. 



As a matter of fact, scarcely have we ascended a 

 little hill than we hear sounds of the animals of which 

 we are in search. We make our preparations for the 

 combat, which in my case consist in inspecting my 

 weapons, and in that of the negroes in stripping 

 themselves as naked as worms in order to be the more 

 ready for flight in the event of danger. The packages 

 remain under the guard of two men, and we march 

 ahead. On reaching a fairly thin forest, bordered 

 by a bushy ravine, I behold three elephants j others 

 being in advance. A male with tolerably good tusks 

 is in the act of rubbing himself against the trunk of a 

 gigantic tree, which trembles from top to bottom, 

 like a reed in a storm. In front of him walks another 



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