168 IN AFRICA 



forest, and the only ways in which a man may pene- 

 trate to his haunts are by these ancient trails. Mount 

 Kenia, as seen from afar, loots soft and green and 

 easy to stroll up, but no man unguided could ever 

 find his way out if once lost in the labyrinth of trails 

 that criss-cross in the forest. 



For many years the elephants of Kenia have 

 been practically secure from the white hunter with 

 his high-powered rifles. Warfare between the na- 

 tive tribes on the slopes has been so constant that it 

 was not until three or four years ago that it was 

 considered reasonably safe for the government to 

 allow hunting parties to invade the south side of 

 the mountain. Prior to that time the elephant's 

 most formidable enemies were the native hunter, 

 who fought with poisoned spears and built deep pits 

 in the trails, pits cleverly concealed with thin strips 

 of bamboo and dried leaves, and the ivory hunting 

 poachers. In 1906 the government granted permis- 

 sion to Mr. Akeley to enter this hitherto closed dis- 

 trict to secure specimens for the Field Museum, 

 and even then there was only a narrow strip that 

 was free from tribal warfare. It was at that time 

 that his party secured seven splendid tuskers, one 

 of which, a one-hundred-fifteen-pound tusker shot 

 by Mrs. Akeley, was the largest ever killed on 

 Mount Kenia. And it was to this district that Mr. 

 Akeley led our safari late in October to try again 

 for elephants on the old familiar stamping ground. 

 We pitched our camp in a lovely spot where one of 

 his camps had stood three years before, just at the 



