170 LOST IN THE FOREST. 



came to say the elephant was iu the lines, and was internipting work ; so I 

 loaded one of the shells — a copper-bottle — with detonating powder, and 

 went after him. I found him stalking about amongst the new elephants, 

 and the men hiding ; so, getting witliin four yards of his tail, I whistled. 

 As he turned I fired the shell into his temple and dropped liim dead. 



On the 13th of February my detachment of elephants marched from 

 camp No. 12. On the I7th we found two dead elephants, both young ones, 

 of Sergeant Carter's detachment, in the river-bed. The ]\Iyanee was deeper 

 at this part than it had been higher up, and the exposure and fatigue of 

 marching through water almost covering them had been too much for the 

 youngsters. They were lying on a spit of sand, loathsome masses of mag- 

 gots. They had ched on the 10th; and as the wash caused by the elephants 

 passing sent wavelets over the spit, the maggots floated off in tens of thou- 

 sands, and the still water all along the banks was soon filled with them. As 

 we camped two hundred yards below, on the same side of the river as the 

 carcasses, the men could scarcely get water for some time without maggots 

 in it. 



On the 19 th the morning was overcast and it thundered, whilst a fresh 

 came down the river, showing it had been raining in the parts we had 

 recently left. The river was too deep for marching, so I ordered a halt for 

 that day, and in the afternoon, after a heavy shower, took my rifles and 

 went in search of game. There were marks of bison {Gavwus gaurus) and 

 Scimbur, but I was unfortunate enough to see nothing larger than jungle-fowl 

 and monkeys, until coming home we heard a single elephant feeding in 

 thick cover. However, we could not get a sight of him. On ascending a 

 piece of rising ground, from which we could see over a portion of the forest, 

 and whence we expected to be able to make out the direction of the camp, 

 we found ourselves altogether at a loss. There was no prominent landmark 

 — nothing but level forest. The sun had been lieavily obscured the whole 

 day. I had no compass with me, and my three gun-bearers held diametri- 

 cally opposed opinions as to the direction of the cardinal points. Here was 

 a pretty fix. The gloomy and dripping forest was fast becoming dark ; 

 there were no paths ; wild elephants were numerous ; and we could not 

 even agree upon the direction we ought to take ! 



I remembered at this time a piece of advice Sir Samuel Baker gives in 

 his Eijlc and ILmnd in Ceylon — namely, to make one's self as comfortable as 

 possilfle when thus lost, and to wait till some one comes in search, instead of 

 straying further and increasing the diilicultics ; so we set to Avork to make 

 a fire. But this was not an easy matter. Everything was dripi)ing wot, 

 except a letter I had in my pocket — a letter from a lady, which was only 



