ELEPHANTS REPORTED 
151 
seeing very little, game. teaching a village towards 
evening, a man informed us that there were elephants very 
close, that he had seen them the day before, and that they 
frightened away the cattle from the edge of the bush every 
day. I accordingly pitched close to the village to ‘ take 
the news.' Some of the ‘ woolidgers ’ brought me three of 
the dearest, fluffiest, and fattest leopard cubs I have ever 
beheld. They were very savage, and barely three weeks 
old, and I was afraid, as they would take very little milk, 
I could not hope to carry them on a jolting camel all the 
way to the coast alive. They had large fat heads and tiny 
ears, with enormously long and sharp claws for their tender 
age. When picked up, they chirped like young birds. Their 
colour was a dirty yellowish -browm, with black spots 
covering the legs, and' two black streaks running from the 
corners of the eyes nearest the nose to the corners of the 
mouth. 
At noon it was so cold that I sat down to breakfast en- 
veloped in a rug and great-coat. Soon after the temperature 
rose from 65° tp 105°. My shikari now contracted fever at 
least once a week, and had to be carried on the pony. 
We started off next morning for a village, to get guides 
to show us the reported elephants, and found it with great 
difficulty hidden in dense bush. Immense herds of sheep, 
camels, and cattle met my gaze on nearing the zareba, and 
in a small zareba, all to themselves, were three fine 
ostriches. 
I sent off half a dozen men to look for elephants, and 
remained in camp awaiting news. They soon returned, 
saying they had found tracks of elephants two days old, 
and that some Midgans had told them that they had been 
driven right out of the country. They brought with them 
two little Hon cubs which they had found in the grass. 
The old lion was with them, but had bolted and left the 
cubs to themselves. They were about two months old, and 
were very strong for their size. I determined to try and 
take them back to the coast. 
