196 ELEPHANT-HUNTING IN EAST AFRICA chap. 



in the head from my Metford .450 which I was carrying. 

 And, as it floundered about still, and I was determined not to 

 let it move from the spot, if possible to prevent it, I finished 

 up with a couple of shots in the lungs. It was a very big 

 old bull, in poor condition.^ Its measurements were : total 

 length over back from tip of upper lip to root of tail, i i feet ; 

 total length in straight line opposite side, 10 feet; total 

 length over back from tip of upper lip to end of tail, 1 3 feet 

 4 inches ; perpendicular height in straight line at shoulder, 5 feet 

 3 inches. These were carefully taken just after it was shot, 

 and entered accurately at once in my notebook. I sent on 

 Squareface and the Ndorobo at once, to prospect the country 

 ahead, while we formed a snug camp in the spinney (where 

 there was but little undergrowth that needed cutting away to 

 make room for my tent), within a few steps of the carcase, so 

 that the men could conveniently cut up the meat. 



On his return in the evening, Squareface reported that, 

 though they had gone a long way down the valley, they found 

 no spoor nor any sign of elephants whatever, nor even suitable 

 bush. So, seeing n6 chance of doing any good by going 

 farther in this direction, I retraced my steps the following 

 morning (8th September) to the camp I had started from the 

 day before. I had hoped to reach the end of the Seya River : 

 but there can be no doubt whatever that its water does not 

 reach beyond the Mathews Mountains ; for not only did all 

 the natives I questioned assure me that farther there was no 

 water, but Swahili traders who had travelled by a route to the 

 eastward of those mountains told me they crossed no such 

 river there. This is not surprising in Africa, where the evapora- 

 tion is so enormous and the soil so porous, while the rainfall is 

 very fickle, for, on my return journey, I found the Seya with 

 no running water in its bed, even much nearer the Lorogi 

 Mountains, in which its sources lie. 



1 This was a large rhinoceros for Equatorial Africa. In Southern Africa they may 

 possibly run larger. On Lake Rudolph they are much smaller. 



