THE ELEPHANT 205 



tusks be little bigger than the lower incisor teeth of a bull 

 hippo. 



In the dry weather elephants take up their quarters in the 

 thick forests at high altitudes from 6,000 to 9,000 feet such 

 as Kikuyu, Mau, and Lykepia, and in the belts of forest on 

 Kilimanjaro, Kenia, Elgon, and Ruwenzori, rather, perhaps, 

 for the sake of food and water both plentiful in such places 

 than for the sake of the shade. In the wet weather they 

 leave the forests and roam out into the open, where food and 

 water have again become abundant, and they are quite as 

 likely as not rb be found during the heat of the day standing 

 in long grass with no shade of any kind. It is difficult for a 

 man who has never hunted elephants, or seen places where 

 they have stopped to feed, to realise the tremendous havoc 

 they play in those places which are much frequented by them, 

 and the amount of wilful damage they do for no apparent 

 reason. When hunting them I have often come across places 

 where the herd I was following had stopped and scattered 

 about to feed, and the amount of wreckage created in the 

 short time before they had again moved on was astounding. 

 Trees of various kinds had been broken down and uprooted 

 in all directions for the sake of a few twigs and young shcots 

 which could have been plucked off equally well whilst the 

 trees stood ; bushes had been pulled up and thrown on one 

 side with scarcely a leaf off ; branches of larger trees had 

 been torn off without a twig or piece of bark having been 

 eaten ; wisps of long grass lay all round, pulled up by the 

 roots, but otherwise untouched, whilst the grass where the herd 

 had stood was knocked down and trampled under foot by 

 their huge feet. In fact, the whole place had more the 

 appearance of a playground than of a feeding-place, and I am 

 inclined to think that a good deal of the damage caused by 

 elephants is done simply for amusement. I have come across 

 other places where an equal amount of damage has befallen 

 the same kind of trees and bushes, but with every proof 

 that the elephants really have fed. The trees have been well 



