^ The Spell of the Elelescho 



told me also much that was interesting about the old trade 

 routes extending far through Africa, and even to the 

 Congo. He had friends and relatives who had already 

 traversed these routes many times, and journeyed from 

 the east coast even to the Congo, long before any 

 European traveller. Many of the people of his caravan 

 were able to tell from memory each day's journey as 

 far as the Congo, and give exact information about the 

 chiefs who held sway in each district, and the possibility 

 of getting supplies of various kinds of provisions, 

 such as maize, millet, bananas, or other products of the 

 country. 



I cannot exactly say how long he had talked with 

 me about elephants and elephant-hunting, about the ivory 

 trade, and many other things. I only know one thing — 

 that after some time his talk became more and more 

 difficult for me to understand, that I strove in vain against 

 an ever-increasing weariness, and that at last I saw neither 



the Arab nor the caravan — ^in a word, saw nothing more, 



felt nothing more. 



I fell into a deep sleep in which, in my dreams, I had 



a lively argument with some Europeans, who would not 



believe so many elephants, bufftiloes, and other wild 



animals had formerly been here, and who kept on objecting 



strongly that it was impossible that all this could have 



been the case so short a time ago. 



When I woke up again I found myself in my lounging- 



chair, a primitive piece of furniture of my own construction. 



My black servant stood before me, and asked me if I 



would not rather go to bed. 



79 



