A TREE HALF DECAYED BECAUSE OF TUSK WOUNDS THAT NOW SUPPLIES THE ELE- 

 PHANTS WITH DRY PUNKY WOOD WITH WHICH TO DUST THEMSELVES 



it was not until January, 191 1, that we 

 resumed active work in the field. From 

 then until the first of June we worked in 

 Unyoro, from the Victoria Nile on the 

 east and north to Lake Albert on the 

 west northward of Masinde. 



This district has now been closed be- 

 cause of sleeping sickness, and thus be- 

 comes an elephant reserve. During the 

 time we were there we saw much of the 

 results of this awful disease, whole vil- 

 lages in which not a living being was to 

 be found, those who had escaped alive 

 having abandoned all household utensils 

 and stored food, together with the huts 

 and gardens, to the mercy of the ele- 

 phants, who had come in great herds, de- 

 stroyed the plantain groves and bark- 

 cloth trees, completing the work of dev- 

 astation. 



The elephants do not always by any 

 means wait for the natives to go. We 

 saw many cases where they had raided a 

 garden at night and completely destroyed 



all crops, and in some instances, when 

 angered by the natives' attempts to drive 

 them away, had destroyed the huts also. 



THE DESTRUCTIVENESS OF A HERD 



The amount of damage that a herd of 

 500 elephants can do to forests and na- 

 tive cultivation is enormous. In follow- 

 ing a herd of 250 we were led through a 

 garden, where the night previous ele- 

 phants had destroyed a large plantain 

 grove and broken down 50 or more bark- 

 cloth trees, averaging a foot in diameter. 

 This was a herd from which all good 

 bulls had been killed and the remainder, 

 enjoying immunity from sportsmen and 

 ivory hunters, had become contemptuous 

 of man (see page 786). 



When we approached the herd and 

 they became aware of our presence, they 

 surged down upon us, keeping us at a 

 distance, and not until I climbed a tree 

 in advance of them did I get a chance to 

 look them over as they approached and 



80= 



