2o8 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH. 



the welcome luxury of a blaze. Though elephants 

 do not frequent these altitudes, they sometimes 

 traverse them in order to reach special districts 

 where they know that their favourite foods are in 

 abundance, and here, as in all regions where 

 elephants roam, for miles and miles you may follow 

 a beaten elephant track, one to three feet wide, clean 

 and hard as a pavement, which these huge beasts 

 have trodden from time immemorial. These paths 

 are their highways, and, here and there, they 

 diverge, or are intersected by cross roads, like 

 roads made by man, and their presence brings 

 vividly before the mind the almost human intelli- 

 gence of the creatures that make them. Often, 

 I have followed elephants through bush, and 

 wondered why they were trekking a country devoid 

 of the trees on which they feed, only to discover 

 that they were making directly for one of these 

 elephant paths. 



To return to my story : I was one afternoon 

 enjoying a siesta in my tent when my curiosity 

 was suddenly aroused by a great commotion among 

 my men, and on going to inquire the cause of the 

 hubbub, found them gathered together in a group 

 round some central object of interest. As I 

 approached, they made way for me, and my gaze 

 fell upon the cause of all the excitement. It was 

 something in the form of a man ; once undoubtedly 



