202 THE HUNTING GROUNDS 



caps on my guns, for fear the old ones might have 

 been injured with the dampness of the night air, and 

 taking Chineah (on whose pluck I knew I could 

 fully depend) with me to carry my spare guns, I 

 cautioned the rest to lie quiet until my return, and 

 sallied forth to reconnoitre, 



A full moon was nearly at its zenith, so that, 

 except where the foliage was very dense, or under 

 the deep shade of the mighty forest, we had no diffi- 

 culty in discerning our way, guided by the strange 

 noises and frequent crashing and rending of trees, 

 which sounded at times almost as loud as the report 

 of musketry, as these huge denizens of the forest 

 rushed through the thickets, snapping and tearing 

 up everything before them. 



As we were going along, I heard a rustling and a 

 low hissing, and I felt rather startled by seeing a 

 liuge snake, which appeared to be of the boa species, 

 coiled round a date-tree, close to which I had passed ; 

 as, however, it did not appear to move, I left it un- 

 disturbed, and, after a tramp of about half an hour, 

 arrived at a jheel or swamp, at one end of which 

 was a large pool, where three elephants were amus- 

 ing themselves by sucking up the water in their 

 trunks and spouting it into the air or over their 

 bodies. After a careful reconnaissance I made sure 

 there was no tusker among them, so I left them un- 

 molested, and crept gently round the shady edge of 

 the cover, taking care to keep well to leeward, so as 

 to prevent their getting wind. Passing the swamp, 



