io8 ELEPHANT-HUNTING IN EAST AFRICA chap. 



5 feet 6 inches deep, from ground to highest part of side as he 

 lay." ^ His tusks were massive but not very long Tthey weighed 

 between 70 and 80 lbs. apiece), — a well-earned reward for 

 much hard work. I followed the others (five or six mon.sters) 

 and got near them once more, but the wind again baulked me, 

 and I had to be satisfied for that da)\ 



The following day I did not hunt, but went early to get 

 the tusks of the bull out and carried to camp. I often here 

 left them for some days, when they would come out quite 

 easily without chopping ; but, as I intended leaving soon, I 

 chopped these out at once. Though it was still quite early, 

 the Ndorobos had already cut up the whole of the upper half 

 of the huge mass. They were swarming all around ; the bush 

 was full of them and covered with meat cut into strips or piled 

 in junks. They had made fires all about ; and eating and 

 work were going on everywhere. The next day's hunt is the 

 last of which I shall, at present, give a description ; for any one 

 who may have had sufficient endurance to follow my prowlings 

 in the bush so far, must by this time have had enough of 

 elephant-hunting for a while. 



I was off again, then, at dawn as usual, with two Xdorobo 

 youths as well as, of course, my usual attendants. The latter 

 are three : " Squareface," my principal gun-bearer, who carries 

 the double .577 ; Juma, the .second ditto, carrying the "cripple- 

 stopper," and " Smiler " (properly Ismail or Ishmael), with an 

 axe and sundry other trifles. The last I always leave some 

 distance behind when approaching game, as well as any surplus 

 natives, and when going right up to my shot, the others wait too 

 until I fire. On the way towards the Bogoi valley we found fresh 

 spoor, and the rolls of chewed fibre the elephants are always 

 spitting out when on the feed. That is to say, such is their 

 habit in this part of the country, where their chief food is the 

 plant called " mkongi " by the Swahili. Being, unfortunately, 



1 This was immediately after death and before he had become distended by the 

 gases generated in the stomach. 



