156 
ELEPHANT-HUNTING IN EAST AFRICA 
CHAP. 
were now all safely ferried over, for it was anxious work 
watching each boat-load being paddled hard through the rough 
and rushing water. Some of our meal got wet, for the 
water used to come in over the weather-side as the men plied 
their paddles with all their might, but nothing was seriously 
damaged. In the afternoon I saw a rhinoceros drinking on 
the opposite bank. 
On the morrow, having sent word to Abdulla to send the 
caravan on and follow the day after with the donkeys, I went 
out to look for elephant spoor, starting early and following the 
river down. But though we went farther than we had ever 
reached in our hunts on the other bank, we found no fresh and 
very little old spoor. This was probably owing to the bush 
being generally more open on this side in that direction, and 
for the same reason there was more game of other kinds here, 
namely a good many waterbuck, some walleri, and a few lesser 
koodoo. I also saw a pair of the larger and handsomer kind 
of jackal. Hippos were numerous, of course, and I shot one 
which I came upon lying in shallow water at the mouth of a 
small tributary. Though I had not molested any of the other 
game we saw, I did not let this chance slip, because it was in 
such an easy position to get at, and, as I succeeded in shooting 
it in the brain with my Lee-Metford, it remained where it was. 
Unfortunately it proved to be in very low condition, so that it 
was not of much use. I also saw the carcase of one, which I 
had shot before but failed to find, close to the bank on the 
other side, being eaten by crocodiles. Some were tugging at 
it in the water, while many of the hideous and repulsive brutes 
lay basking, open-mouthed, on banks or snags near by. At 
some points on the banks, in this part of the Tana, are little 
patches of dense leafy thicket growing by the water’s edge. I 
looked wistfully at these shady retreats, which seemed so 
enticing, in the burning heat, to one suffering from fever 
(as I was then); and I sometimes felt as if I should like 
to take up my abode in one of them, within arm’s reach 
