XXXI ^ IVORY 389 



ruptecl by elephants on nine separate uceasious l)et\veen 

 January and April. This being the dry season, these 

 animals come down in herds to this tributary of the 

 White Nile to drink : tliey jostle against the telegraph 

 poles and knock them down. When a pole is down the 



A Useful Association. Butf-backed Heron on an elepliant. When 

 elephants are suspicious they raise their trunks and move them 

 incessantly in order to scent danger. 



wire falls low enough to t(juch the backs of the elephants, 

 and this leads to a large amount of damage, and, in 

 some instances, tlte telegraph line is destroyed for half 

 a mile. Occasionally an elephant uproots a telegraph 

 post and twists the iron pedestal to which the pole 

 is bolted (see p. 2G). 



