THE ELEPH.\XT 51 



I had succeeded in getting up to a number of 

 elephants which were resting, as I have described, 

 about eleven o'clock in the forenoon. They 

 occupied a dense piece of forest which, thanks 

 to a steady breeze, I was enabled to reach 

 without disturbing any of them. Having crawled 

 noiselessly some distance into it, plainly hearing 

 the cxirious, loud intestinal rumblings which 

 betoken their nearness, I raised myself, at length, 

 behind the trunk of a sheltering tree. I found 

 about a dozen elephants in front of me, standing 

 about in various attitudes, the nearest being 

 no more than 15 yards away. Some were 

 fanning themselves with their enormous ears, 

 others swaying from side to side supporting their 

 immense weight alternately upon either foot. A 

 young female away to the left caressed a small, 

 apparently newly-born calf vrith her trunk, 

 whilst she swung her off fore-foot backwards and 

 forwards like a pendulum. Look where I would, 

 however, to my groM-ing disappointment, I could 

 see nothing but females, until it seemed to me 

 that on the far side of the group I caught sight 

 of the gleam of what appeared to be larger 

 ivory. Shpping down to hands and knees 

 again, I commenced a careful crawl in a detour 

 to get on their farther flank. It was a tedious 

 and painful business, and my progress was slow. 

 At length, after carefully removing a piece of 

 stick to prevent it from snapping under my 

 knee, I glanced cautiously up, to find that I 

 was crouching almost under the stern of a large 

 wrinkled elephant apparently of great age, which 



