344 Wanderings in Eastern Africa. 
our right, but not far from this we had to turn out of 
our path on account of another of these animals. 
Towards evening we struck upon a wide, well-beaten 
track running directly in our course, which looked like 
the ordinary path of human beings, but it proved to 
be one made by elephants in their course down to 
the water of Lake Jipe. 
About this time my attention was attracted to the 
singular cloud formation going on in the western skies, 
a vast pile of clouds having assumed the form of a 
prodigious mushroom, with dark stem and white crest, 
which was surrounded with all manner of fantastic 
shapes, forming in appearance a celestial landscape 
of mountain ridges, rocks, crags, castles, palaces, and 
towers. 
At sunset we reached a dry elephant's pond, on the 
north side of which was a thicket of dry thorns, 
forming a ready-made stockade, within which we 
encamped. 
July 2()th. — The men rose in far better spirits 
than I expected them to be in, for duiing the past 
two days we had had but very little either to eat 
or drink. The water we carried from Matate was 
nearly exhausted, though we had husbanded it to 
the utmost. Last night we had had no supper, and 
we were obliged to start this morning without break- 
fast. 
Now for Jipe ! The paths were excellent, being 
those of the elephant and rhinoceros. The former is 
a very decent animal, its enormous spoor being never 
found on the path, but always at its sides. Yet even 
this annoys the rhinoceros, and he scatters it to the 
winds wherever he finds it. i 
i 
1 
