-* The African Elephant 



growth which is found on a certain level on the mountain- 

 side, and which forms a shady and inaccessible retreat. 

 These districts which are patronised by the elephant are 

 generally at such a height as secures them rain more 

 or less during the whole of the year. They are distin- 

 guished by the word " subngo" in the Masai and Wando- 

 robo districts. From these the elephant often roams 

 far afield during the rainy season. The cunning old bulls, 

 at any rate, only leave the great mountain forests, at 

 this time impenetrable. These districts are often of such 

 an impassable nature that they can only be explored 

 by means of the tracks trodden by the elephants and 

 rhinoceroses. While our thick-skinned friend knows how 

 to traverse with ease these luxuriant tracts, man has 

 to make his way slowly and with much trouble. When 

 wounded or ferocious elephants are in pursuit, the hunter's 

 flight is hindered at every step, whilst the elephant and 

 rhinoceros easily overcome all these obstacles, and may 

 be very dangerous to the hunter. 



The haunts of the elephant are usually confined within 

 restricted areas, and as in regions where he is hunted 

 he only emerges from them at night time, it often 

 happens that Europeans pass many years without obtain- 

 ing a sight of him. The former commander of a fort in 

 the Kilimanjaro district told me that, in spite of numerous 

 expeditions he made, it was seven years before he saw 

 an elephant. Most Europeans have had similar ex- 

 periences, whatever may be said 'to the contrary. Even 

 careful observers have been misled in estimating the 

 number of elephants in certain districts by the fact that 



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