CREATURES OF THE WILDERNESS 177 



far off the day before, and he offered to come 

 with us next day to show me the ground. 



"Next morning I was called at 4 a.m., but it 

 was raining heavily, so that I did not make a 

 start until 7, by which time the rain had 

 ceased, though the sky looked threatening. 

 Up to 10, we could find no fresh tracks, but 

 we then met two natives who, in going from 

 one village to another, told us that they had 

 crossed fresh tracks of three bulls only about a 

 mile back. We set off in that direction, and 

 easily picked up the spoor in the soft ground. 

 Owing, however, to the quantity of rain that 

 had fallen during the night, it was hard to say 

 exactly how old it was. I judged it to be not 

 more than from twelve to eighteen hours old, 

 and well worth following up, particularly as 

 one, at any rate, was the spoor of a very big 

 bull, the prints of his forefeet measuring just 

 over 21 inches from toe to heel, whilst the other 

 two measured 18 and 18^ respectively. 



" Owing to the water-logged state of the 

 country, the going was bad and tiring, and 

 much time was lost in crossing the numerous 

 streams in our way, but the spoor was very 

 plain and we were never at fault. After going 

 a few miles, we came to a low bank of soft 

 earth which bore the distinct impressions of 

 the bodies of all three elephants, showing that 

 they had rested there during the night or very 

 early that morning. This was a very interest- 

 ing sight to me, as I had often been told by 

 hunters that elephants never lie down to rest, 

 but sleep standing or else leaning against trees. 



M 



