EXCURSIONS FROM EL BO GO I 169 



have deserted it now, for I could not even find any spoor. I 

 thought it strange that there was still no news from Lesiat, and 

 began to suspect that Lorgete had not really sent him word, 

 as he had promised to do, of my arrival. I, however, took no 

 further steps then to ascertain ; and, on Lorgete coming in the 

 morning to show me his elephants — though not what I call 

 early (by which I mean before it is fully light) — we went out. 

 He took me a long tramp, more towards the Seya River than I 

 had ever known elephants to be before, and we found none 

 to-day. We saw a little spoor of odd ones, but did not follow it, 

 as we were hoping to find the herd. It seldom pays to follow 

 single elephants, as they go on, as a rule, till they find their friends, 

 it may be far away. 



In the afternoon we saw some giraffe towards the river, 

 on a lower level than we were, standing in a peculiar kind 

 of jungle, composed, not of thorny bushes, but of spreading 

 clumps of a sort of shrub with long, thin interlacing stems. 

 I managed, with considerable difficulty, to stalk to within fair 

 shot of them, having to descend a stony, scrubby hillside ; 

 but the jungle was high enough to cover the greater part of 

 their bodies, so that I could not see the vital spots. I was 

 particularly anxious to get meat for the sake of my guides, 

 for though I had given Lorgete some food to take home for his 

 children, he and his companions said they were hungry, and 

 that they had not strength to go after elephants until they had 

 had a good feed of meat. They always do say that. So I 

 tried to shoot one, but, to my disgust, only succeeded in wound- 

 ing it, on account of the difficulty of judging through the foliage 

 where the proper spot to shoot at was. In long jungle it is 

 generally best to shoot a giraffe in the neck ; as, if the bullet 

 strikes the vertebrae, it of course drops on the spot. Un- 

 happily, I did not do that in this case, and the giraffe went 

 off badly hit. I hoped still to bag it, though ; but following a 

 little way, without, however, sighting the wounded beast again, 

 we suddenly came upon one in thick scrub, quite close. At 



