MY BIG TUSKER. 1 91 



to a large swamp. The spoor led into it. It was curious 

 ground. There were a number of little tussocks or is- 

 lands, whichever you may choose to call them, each 

 about the size of a room, with channels of deep mud 

 separating them from each other. These channels were 

 narrow, so that we could generally find a spot where we 

 could spring from one island to another. The inter- 

 vening mud was rather soft, and would have taken a man 

 over the ankles had he tried, to walk in it. The islands 

 had banks three or four feet high, which overhung in 

 places. The swamp reminded me somewhat of a peat 

 bog, with this difference, viz., that it was overgrown with 

 clumps of long grass reeds and palms. Between the 

 line where the jungle ceased and the swamp commenced 

 was an open strip about fifty yards in width which 

 bordered the swamp. Along this one could see for 200 

 or 300 yards, for there was hardly any vegetation upon it. 

 We spoored the elephant into the swamp, and at last it 

 became evident that he had joined several other elephants, 

 for there were tracks which wandered about everywhere. 



This was embarrassing ; but we could always dis- 

 tinguish the track of the solitary bull we were following, 

 for it greatly exceeded any of the other tracks in size. 

 I was, however, annoyed that he had joined other ele- 

 phants, as it might spoil our stalk. 



At last we heard a noise of crackling branches, and 

 knew the elephants were feeding. 



We went straight towards the sound. I saw an ele- 

 phant about forty yards away, but it was turned from 

 me, and it was not the large bull that I was in pursuit 

 of. I made a detour to avoid giving alarm to this ele- 

 phant, and in so doing suddenly saw my huge friend. 

 His head was raised, and his long white tusks were 



