In a Primeval Forest 



to me to trace the immense footsteps of these nocturnal 

 visitors. Perhaps the cunning animals would have already 

 put several miles between my camp and their momentary 

 stopping place. But their tracks afforded me always most 

 interesting clues to their habits, all the more valuable by 

 reason of the rare chances one has of observing them in 

 daylight, when they almost always hide away in impenetrable 

 thickets. What excitement there is in the stifled cry 

 " Tembo ! " In a moment your own eye perceives the 

 unmistakable traces of the giant's progress. The next 

 thing to do is to examine into the tracks and ascertain as 

 far as possible the number, age and sex of the animals. 

 Then you follow them up, though generally, as I have said, 

 in vain. 



The hunter, however, who without real hope of over- 

 taking the elephants themselves yet persists in following 

 up their tracks just because they have so much to tell him, 

 will be all the readier to turn aside presently, enticed in 

 another direction by the scarcely less notable traces of a 

 herd of buffaloes. Follow these now and you will soon 

 discover that they too have found safety, having made their 

 way into an impenetrable morass. To make sure of this 

 you must perhaps clamber up a thorny old mimosa tree, 

 all alive with ants — not a very comfortable method of 

 getting a bird's-eye view. Numbers of snow-white ox- 

 peckers flying about over one particular point in the great 

 wilderness of reeds and rushes betray the spot in which the 

 buffaloes have taken refuge. 



The great green expanse stretches out before you 

 monotonously, and even in the bright sunlight you can see 



