102 THE BONDS OF AFRICA 



Then she dashed the object to earth with all 

 her mighty force, pierced it with her tusk, and 

 in her dying ferocity screamed and screamed 

 again. He was terrified and bewildered, and, 

 hearing the crashing of his consorts in the trees 

 in front of him, he dashed after them. He could 

 not wholly understand how this awful crisis in, 

 his life had been brought about, and yet in his 

 rapidly developing brain he realized that he had 

 for the first time met his eternal enemy — that 

 puny member of creation who is named man. 



Away and away the elephants marched from 

 the valley of calamity, away to the pools of the 

 Luangwa, where the n'jenje berries, the wild 

 peaches, the tall rich grasses and the mahogany 

 and kigelia trees robe the banks of the river in 

 a riotous growth of vegetation. For long he 

 remained here, and when the rains came he 

 waded through the water-logged country and 

 sometimes ventured into the gardens of the 

 Awisa. 



Occasionally a wave of suspicion would waft 

 over him, and he would raise his trunk like a 

 great python and scent the air for that taint 

 which he always associated with danger, perhaps 

 death. 



There he remains to this day, moving from the 

 slumbering river away to his favourite feeding- 

 grounds, marching from water-hole to water-hole, 

 tearing down the bark of trees, sometimes 

 travelling with his great brothers and sisters, 

 sometimes wandering through the forests alone. 

 And when his great shadow darkens the moonlit 

 clearings in the bush even the lion — the so-called 

 king of beasts — snarls and slinks away. For the 

 baby born in the Muchinga foothills has become 

 the lord of creation. 



