CHAPTER IV. 



ELEPHANT. 



Late one afternoon I was descending a gentle slope, waist- 

 deep in grass, and dotted over with thorn scrub, through 

 which I could catch glimpses in front of a mass of reeds, 

 upwards of a mile broad, and extending far out of sight 

 on either side ; their great height so diminished by the 

 distance, that they looked, with their broad green leaves, 

 more like fields of sedge -grass of only a foot or two in 

 length. It was summer, and though the sun was low, and 

 was shining directly in my face so as to almost blind me, 

 the heat had scarcely diminished, and all animate nature 

 was still hiding itself in the deep shade of the flat-crowned 

 mimosas and other trees that afforded an equal protection. 



