170 IN AFRICA 



edge of the thick bush and on the upper edge of the 

 shambas. News travels quickly in this country, 

 and in a short time many of his old Kikuyu friends 

 were at our camping place. One or two of the old 

 guides were on hand to lead the way into elephant 

 haunts and the natives near our camp reported that 

 the elephants had been coming down into their 

 fields during the last few days. Some had been 

 heard only the day before. So the prospects looked 

 most promising, and we started on a little hunt the 

 first afternoon after arriving in camp. 



We took one tent and about twenty porters, for 

 when one starts on an elephant trail there is no tell- 

 ing how long he will be gone or where he may be 

 led. We expected that we would have to climb up 

 through the strip of underbrush, and perhaps even 

 as far up as the bamboos, in which event we might 

 be gone two or three days. In addition to the 

 porters we had our gunbearers and a couple of na- 

 tive guides. One of these was an old Wanderobo, or 

 man of the forest, who had spent his life in the soli- 

 tudes of the mountain and was probably more 

 familiar with the trails than any other man. He 

 wore a single piece of skin thrown over his shoul- 

 ders and carried a big poisoned elephant spear with 

 a barb of iron that remains in the elephant when 

 driven in by the weight of the heavy wooden shaft. 

 The barb was now covered with a protective bind- 

 ing of leaves. He led the way, silent and mild-eyed 

 and very naked, and the curious little skin-tight cap 

 that he wore made him look like an old woman. As 



