FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND ACRES 179 



native women and will not be disturbed by the sight 

 of one of them. After seeing the women I am not 

 surprised that they feel that way about it, but I 

 don't see how they can tell the women from the 

 men. Possibly because they know that only the 

 women do such manual labor as to carry wood. 



In the afternoon we reached the bamboos which 

 lie above the forest belt. Here the ground is 

 clean and heavily carpeted with dry bamboo leaves. 

 The bamboos grow close together, all seemingly of 

 the same size, and are pervaded with a cool, green- 

 ish shadow that is almost sunny in comparison with 

 the deep, solemn shades of the great forest. 



Then w r e struck a trail. The old Wanderobo 

 guide said it was only an hour or so old and that 

 we should soon overtake the elephant. It was evi- 

 dently only one elephant and not a large one. It 

 is fascinating to watch an experienced elephant 

 hunter and to see how eloquent the trail is to him. 

 A broken twig means something, the blades of 

 grass turned a certain way will distinguish the fresh 

 trail from the old one, the footprints in the soft 

 earth, the droppings all tell a definite story to 

 him, and he knows when he is drawing down upon 

 his quarry. As we proceeded his movements be- 

 came slower and more cautious, and the plodding 

 drudgery of following an elephant trail gave way 

 to suppressed excitement. 



Slower and slower he went, and finally he indi- 

 cated that only the gunbearers and ourselves should 

 continue. The porters were left behind, and in sin- 



