156 ELEPHANT-HUNTING IN EAST AFRICA chap. 



were now all safely ferried over, for it was anxious work 

 watching each boat-load being paddled hard through the rough 

 and rushing water. Some of our meal got wet, for the 

 water used to come in over the weather-side as the men plied 

 their paddles with all their might, but nothing was seriously 

 damaged. In the afternoon I saw a rhinoceros drinking on 

 the opposite bank. 



On the morrow, having sent word to Abdulla to send the 

 caravan on and follow the day after with the donkeys, I went 

 out to look for elephant spoor, starting early and following the 

 river down. But though we went farther than we had ever 

 reached in our hunts on the other bank, we found no fresh and 

 very little old spoor. This was probably owing to the bush 

 being generally more open on this side in that direction, and 

 for the same reason there was more game of other kinds here, 

 namely a good many waterbuck, some walleri, and a few lesser 

 koodoo. I also saw a pair of the larger and handsomer kind 

 of jackal. Hippos were numerous, of course, and I shot one 

 which I came upon lying in shallow water at the mouth of a 

 small tributary. Though I had not molested any of the other 

 game we saw, I did not let this chance slip, because it was in 

 such an easy position to get at, and, as I succeeded in shooting 

 it in the brain with my Lee-Metford, it remained where it was. 

 Unfortunately it proved to be in very low condition, so that it 

 was not of much use. I also saw the carcase of one, which I 

 had shot before but failed to find, close to the bank on the 

 other side, being eaten by crocodiles. Some were tugging at 

 it in the water, while many of the hideous and repulsive brutes 

 lay basking, open-mouthed, on banks or snags near by. At 

 some points on the banks, in this part of the Tana, are little 

 patches of dense leafy thicket growing by the water's edge. I 

 looked wistfully at these shady retreats, which seemed so 

 enticing, in the burning heat, to one suffering from fever 

 (as I was then) ; and I sometimes felt as if I should like 

 to take up my abode in one of them, within arm's reach 



