VII JOURNEY TO WEBBE SHABELEH RIVER 195 
The jungle was one of the billecl, the worst kind of thorn 
bush, and they soon left me far behind. I ran back to the hill 
to get a bird’s-eye view of their line of retreat, as shown by the 
clouds of dust rising above the jungle, and hoped they would 
stop; but they made off up the Daghatto Valley in a straight 
line, evidently bent on leaving the country. 
While I was watching their course, a Malingtir came and 
said that Abokr had climbed a tree which he pointed out to us 
half a mile to the east, and had seen elephants. I shouldered 
the four-bore, and followed by Géli and Daura leading the mule, 
went to the tree, and found Abokr among its branches. He 
extended his arm and pointed out the elephants, which were a 
fresh lot altogether. 
All the elephants in Daghatto seemed to have been rolling 
in reddish-brown clay, which, contrasted with the vivid green 
background of the trees under strong sunlight, made them look 
a brick-red colour. The jungle in which they had taken refuge 
was a small grove of large trees growing together, and for about 
two hundred yards in front was very thorny khansa bush, the 
flat umbrella-tops nearly meeting at a height of about four feet 
from the ground. There was no cover higher than this except 
the clump of trees where the elephants were, and a few small, 
flimsy adad bushes rising above the khansa undergrowth. The 
elephants themselves, half hidden in the foliage of the large 
trees on which they had been feeding, had a good view all 
around from the citadel they had chosen, making it difficult to 
approach unobserved. The passages underneath the shansa 
bushes were too tortuous and thorny to be of any use. A belt 
of high jungle on our left grew to within a hundred yards of 
the herd, and at the same distance beyond them was an extensive 
forest, the wind blowing over the elephants’ heads in our faces. 
By taking advantage of the belt of forest on our side, I 
managed to get within a hundred yards; and then crawling out 
into the shansa undergrowth for twenty yards, I sat on a low 
ant-hill which rose above it, resting my elbows on my knees, 
and remained motionless for some time with the rifle up, waiting 
for a chance. The eyes and temple of the largest elephant 
could be seen in a gap of the foliage, and taking’ a careful aim 
at the centre of the temple I fired, and bolted back through the 
khansa to the edge of the high trees, to receive them there if 
they should charge. They made off, however, up wind, all except 
one, a large bull with moderate tusks, which we found kneeling, 
