CREATURES OF THE WILDERNESS 57 



monsters. It must not be supposed that 

 escape from their insect tormentors is the only 

 purpose which prompts elephants to migrate 

 to the mountains, for they also climb to great 

 heights in search of suitable food when sup- 

 plies fail them at the lower levels, but they 

 certainly make shorter journeys above the 

 plains when the flies are most troublesome. 

 When, choosing the other alternative, they 

 seek a water cure, they are sometimes unable 

 to find depth enough to submerge animals of 

 their height, and at such times they squirt the 

 water out of their trunks, as mentioned above, 

 and plaster themselves over with mud. This 

 makes them look disgusting objects, but it 

 certainly gives them peace from the tsetse and 

 other venomous flies on the look out to suck 

 their blood, and I am not sure that those who 

 fish on Canadian rivers in summer, and suffer 

 torments from the blackflies and midges, might 

 not follow the elephant's example and plaster 

 a little mud on their face and hands. Such an 

 experiment might be worth trying, at any rate 

 when the "dope ' n has given out. 



With its immense body, long and tapering 

 trunk, curling tusks and straight, massive legs, 

 the elephant is an extraordinary creature, 

 different in size and shape from any other in 



1 A chemical preparation sold for bathing the face and 

 hands and keeping biting- flies at a distance. 



