CHAPTER XII 



ANKOLE AND LAKE ALBERT EDWARD 



* Celui qui tient la tete est un vieux chef. Son corps 



Est gerce comme un tronc que le temps ronge et mine; 

 Sa tete est comme un roc, et Tare de son echine 

 Se voute puissamment a ses moindres efforts. 



* Sans ralentir jamais et sans hater sa marche, 



II guide au but certain ses compagnons poudreux ; 

 Et creusant par derriere un sillon sablonneux, 

 Les p^lerins massifs suivent leur patriarche.' 



Leconte de Lisle. 



As in the beginning of its course, so again, where 

 it approaches Lake Albert, the Semliki flows 

 through wide plains of grass well populated with 

 eame. The forests which clothe the northern end 

 of Ruwenzori are inhabited by huge herds of 

 elephants, which descend into the plains to feed on 

 the grass grown green after the rains, and to wallow 

 in the river. There is a curious protective resem- 

 blance between elephants and the large candelabra 

 euphorbias that are so characteristic a feature of the 

 plains. From a distance it is almost impossible to 

 detect an elephant standing still in a clump of these 

 trees, and I have often mistaken one for the other. 

 At the present time, when the international 



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