FOOD OF THF ELEPHANT. 515 



evening before then came along with us. Crowds of 

 natives hovered round us in the forest ; but he ran forward 

 and explained, and we were not molested. That night 

 we slept by a little village under a long range of hills, 

 which are called Chizamena. The country here is more 

 woody than on the high lands we had left, but the trees 

 are not in general large. Great numbers of them have 

 been broken off by elephants, a foot or two from the 

 ground : they thus seem pollarded from that point. 

 This animal never seriously lessens the number of trees ; 

 indeed I have often been struck by the very little* damage 

 he does in a forest. His food consists more of bulbs,, 

 tubers, roots, and branches, than anything else. Where 

 they have been feeding, great numbers of trees, as thick 

 as a man's body, are seen twisted down or broken off, 

 in order that they may feed on the tender shoots at the 

 tops. They are said sometimes to unite in wrenching 

 down large trees. The natives in the interior believe 

 that the elephant never touches grass, and I never saw 

 evidence of his having grazed until we came near to Tete, 

 and then he had fed on grass in seed only ; this seed con- 

 tains so much farinaceous matter, that the natives collect 

 it for their own food. 



This part of the country abounds in ant-hills. In the 

 open parts they are studded over the surface exactly as 

 haycocks are in harvest, or heaps of manure in spring, 

 rather disfiguring the landscape. In the woods they are 

 as large as round haystacks, 40 or 50 feet in diameter at 

 the base, and at least 20 feet high. These are more fertile 

 than the rest of the land, and here they are the chief 

 garden-ground for maize, pumpkins, and tobacco. 



When we had passed the outskirting villages, which 

 alone consider themselves in a state of war with the 

 Makololo, we found the Batoka, or Batonga, as they 

 here call themselves, quite friendly. Great numbers of 

 them came from all the surrounding villages, with presents 

 of maize and masuka, and expressed great joy at the 

 first appearance of a white man, and harbinger of peace. 

 The women clothe themselves better than the Balonda, 

 but the men go in puris naturalibus. They walk about 

 without the smallest sense of shame. They have even 

 lost the tradition of the " figleaf." I asked a fine large- 

 bodied old man, if he did not think it would be better 

 to adopt a little covering. He looked with a pitying leer, 



