WILD LIFE ACROSS THE WORLD 



and what he hoped would be the result, and he 

 suffered a bitter disappointment ! 



The following day we started with a heavy drag 

 upwards, and those who have attempted climbing in 

 the tropics will realise what we suffered. I suppose it 

 is all very well for the real enthusiast ; the perspiration 

 streaming down his face is nothing, provided he can 

 watch his aneroid barometer. He thinks in feet of 

 altitude, not toil. What are the discomforts compared 

 with the stories he will tell to his friends later on ? 

 But I am sure that the normal man was meant to walk 

 on flat ground, and for that reason I feel no joy in the 

 physical strain of toiling up mountain sides within 

 a degree of the Equator. 



We were in the bamboo forests now. They are 

 rightly called bamboo forests, for there is nothing 

 but bamboos, enormous things ranging from thirty 

 to forty feet in height, and growing so closely together 

 that it is a matter of sheer impossibility to stray off 

 the native footpath. The elephants alone can force 

 their way through that forest, and as far as one could 

 see they do so with comparative ease. 



About ten feet from their tops the bamboos throw 

 out branches covered with feathery leaves, which 

 prevent any direct sunlight penetrating, and by 

 practically stopping the circulation of air render the 

 atmosphere absolutely stifling. 



Several times we came across fresh elephant spoor, 



i8o 



