WHERE ROOSEVELT WILL HUNT 



243 



mother. It was easy enough to feed 

 him with milk, because all that Was re- 

 quired was a bottle with a long neck. 

 This bottle was filled with cow's milk di- 

 luted with water, and poured down the 

 elephant's throat. Soon all that one had 

 to do was to place the neck of the bot- 

 tle in the elephant's mouth, and the in- 

 telligent creature wound its trunk around 

 the neck of the bottle, tilted it up, and 

 absorbed the contents. For several weeks 

 the elephant throve and became a most 

 delightful pet. It would allow any one 

 to ride on its back, and seemed to take 

 pleasure and amusement in this exercise. 

 It would find its way through diverse pas- 

 sages into my sitting-room, not upsetting 

 or injuring anything, but deftly smelling 

 and examining objects of curiosity with 

 its trunk. 



At the same time we had in captivity 

 a young zebra, which was also to be the 

 pioneer of a domesticated striped horse. 

 These two orphans, the elephant and the 

 zebra, became greatly attached to each 

 other, though perhaps there was more 

 enthusiastic affection on the part of the 

 elephant, the zebra at times getting a lit- 

 tle bored with constant embraces. Alas 

 and alack! both elephant and zebra died 

 eventually from the unwholesomeness, to 

 them, of cow's milk. 



Several other elephants of the same 

 age — that is to say, about four to six 

 months old — were delivered into my 

 hands, but all eventually died. Cow's 

 milk appears to give these creatures 

 eventually an incurable diarrhea, while all 

 attempts at that early age to substitute 

 for milk farinaceous substances have also 

 resulted in a similar disease. I do not 

 say that it is impossible to rear young 

 elephants by hand for we have not made 

 a sufficient number of experiments, but 

 it is very difficult. I therefore favor the 

 plan of attempting to catch elephants of 

 perhaps a year old, at which age they do 

 not require milk as an exclusive diet. 

 One specimen of this age was caught 

 and was readily tamed, and for aught 

 I know is still alive in captivity. (See 

 also page 252.) 



GIGANTIC PAPYRUS. 



There is a remarkable similarity about 

 all the landscapes in Uganda. There are 

 rolling, green downs rising in places al- 

 most into the mountains, and every val- 

 ley in between is a marsh. This marsh 

 is often concealed by splendid tropical 

 forest. Sometimes, however, it is open 

 to the sky, and the water is hidden from 

 sight by dense-growing papyrus. 



The broad native roads make as 

 straight as possible for their mark, like 

 the roads of the Romans, and, to the 

 tired traveler, seem to pick out prefer- 

 entially the highest and steepest hills, 

 which they ascend perpendicularly and 

 without compromise. 



The road is as broad as an English 

 country road, quite different from the 

 ordinary African path (which is barely 

 the breadth of the space occupied by 

 men walking in single life). On either 

 side of the road the grass grows high, 

 perhaps to heights of seven or eight feet, 

 but it is interspersed with gayer-flower- 

 ing plants and shrubs. The road ascends 

 a steep hill through this country of luxu- 

 riant grass. The hilltop reached and the 

 descent begun, the traveler sees before 

 him a broad marsh in the valley below. 

 The descent to this marsh is possibly 

 so abrupt that it is deemed wiser to get 

 off the horse or mule and leave that beast 

 to slither down sideways. 



Looking on either side as the marsh is 

 being crossed, the traveler will notice 

 first of all the gigantic papyrus, which 

 may be growing as high as fifteen 

 feet above the water and interspersed 

 amongst papyrus roots are quantities of 

 fern, of amaranth, or "love-lies-a-bleed- 

 ing," and the gorgeous red-purple Dis- 

 sotis flowers, a yellow composite like a 

 malformed daisy, and large masses of 

 pink or lavender-colored Pentas. There 

 are also sages and mints which smell 

 strongly of peppermint, and a rather 

 handsome plant with large white bracts 

 and small mauve flowers. 



In and out of this marsh vegetation 

 flit charming little finches of the waxbill 



