VIII 
EXCURSIONS FROM EL BOGOI 
177 
valley, from here onward. We had now got pretty close 
under the Mathews range, which towered up to a considerable 
height across the valley on our right, and also ahead, where it 
seemed to shut it in. Continuing on our way down, parallel 
with the river, the following morning (30th August 1895), 
after about three hours’ marching we stopped for a short rest; 
and, shortly after proceeding again, we had arrived at a part of 
the valley where the bottom consisted of a wide, damp flat, 
covered with a tall and dense growth of reedy swamp grass, 
with here and there patches of jungle and thorn-trees and an 
occasional stagnant pool, while the river wound through all, 
sometimes approaching the opposite hills, at others near those 
on our side. I kept my eyes on this, as a likely harbour for 
the game I was in quest of; and, sure enough, on topping a 
little rise which gave me a good view over it, a great black ear 
caught my eye, among the tops of the thick brake, waving 
gently with a sinuous kind of motion reminding one of the 
lazy movement of the fin or tail of a fish lying sleepily poised 
in the water. I at once halted my little party in a hollow 
under the stony hills which enclose the valley, and the base of 
which we had been skirting. Fortunately the wind was right. 
Leaving the other men with the loads and donkeys, with 
orders to keep absolutely still, I took my three gun-bearers 
and two Ndorobo lads, and, making a circuit round to leeward, 
crossed the river, struggled through the dense brake, and 
reached the steep bare stony hill on the far side, close to 
where the elephants had been. I say elephants, for, though 
only one (or rather a bit of one) had been visible, I felt sure 
there were more. It was no easy matter making our way 
through this formidable cover. The height of the grass may 
be inferred from the fact that, even from the coign of vantage 
whence I scanned it, only an' elephant’s ear could be made 
out; while it was so dense as to be quite impassable except 
by the paths made by elephants and rhinos, and even then 
only with difficulty, as the heavy grass often drooped over the 
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