WOD ALI'S ADYENTUEE WITH AN ELEPHANT. 189 
August — Messengers sent in all directions to induce the 
negroes to ferry us across the lagoon^ but without success. They 
expect we will return^ and refuse to supply us with grain. An en- 
campment is formed^ and we trust that when the negroes find how 
peaceful are our intentions,, desiring only to press onward^ they may 
come to terms. In the afternoon an easterly wind collected fast- 
flying clouds to the west^ forming a canopy black as a pall. No 
rain fell ; there was but little lightning and no thunder. A fear- 
ful stillness reigned. The wind suddenly chopped round from the 
west,, and dispersed the darkness in thick columns to the eastward^ 
where they again formed in a heavy mass above the horizon. Soon 
after this,, another change of wind brought them as rapidly back. 
At sunset it rained in torrents. Our tent stood the wetting well. 
Most of our attendants sought refuge in the deserted tookuls of 
the hamlet. Dr. Murie had turned in ; but the sentinels,, and some 
few favourite old hands of PethericVs,, were invited to our tent^ 
where a little chat and sympathy tended to cheer them. Wod 
All, who was one of the hunters and a soldier,, speaking of elephants^ 
told the following anecdote,, being one of his many experiences^ 
which Petherick thus translated to me : 
^^Wod A\i, when at one of my hunting stations,, at the Djour^ 
Bahar il Gazal^ roaming with his followers in all but impassable 
forests^ found himself unexpectedly in the midst of a herd of adult 
male elephants in the enjoyment of a midday repose. Some shots 
were fired, and Wod Ali endeavouring to approach a heavy tusker/ 
to his surprise found himself closely followed by the largest elephant 
he had ever seen. Wod Ali rushed into a thick bush, and there 
ensconced himself in its centre, when he was horrified to see the 
animal pick up and examine his cap that he, in his endeavour to se- 
crete himself, had lost, and had remained suspended to some of the 
