14 The Life of an Elephant 



these fine examples of the noblest form of 

 vegetation. 



It was when the heat of the sun was making 

 itself felt that the trail seemed to disappear, 

 to break up into branches too numerous to 

 follow. The man cast around for the foot- 

 marks of the herd-bull, and followed in these 

 with the greatest caution 

 and stealth. He had not 

 far to go. At a few hundred 

 yards he detected the ele- 

 phant standing motionless 

 in the shade of a clump 

 of bamboos, and returning, 

 followed the general direction taken by the 

 herd with an easier mind. They were resting 

 in a small clearing in the forest by a pool of 

 stagnant water, throwing the wet, cool earth 

 over head and back, the while plucking up 

 the grasses, brushing away the clinging soil 

 by beating the stems against the forefoot and 

 then biting off the succulent roots and casting 

 to one side the withered stalks. 



All told, there must have been some forty 



