VIII 
EXCURSIONS FROM EL B0G01 
85 
gorge, just above which we found the first pool. Two or three 
of the elephants had drunk here, but not all. We stopped 
again, too, for a drink and another rest. We had now been 
walking about four hours, and I was still doubtful whether to 
go farther or return to camp. But my Ndorobo boy was 
confident we should overtake our game if we persevered ; my 
gun-bearers, too, were keen to go on, and I thought after 
coming so far it was a pity not to keep on as long as there was 
any hope of coming up with the herd, so we continued our 
course up stream. 
Beyond this narrow gorge, which was shut in by high cliffs 
of red rock, the valley opened out wider, but the hillsides were 
still of the same bare, dry, stony character. Pursuing our 
explorations still further, we came to a salt swamp, full of 
jungle, which, though naturally thick, was mauled, broken 
down, and trampled by elephants, and cut up by their paths. 
Hereabouts, too, was plenty of fresh spoor—not merely that of 
our travellers of yesterday’s acquaintance, but of others, which, 
it was apparent, had been merely wandering at will. As we 
advanced, the prospect became more and more encouraging, 
and I felt glad I had not been so foolish as to turn back. On 
the sandy bed now ran a shallow stream ; the swampy jungle 
bordering it was of much greater extent and denser than 
hitherto, and where the flats (here much wider) were dry, they 
were covered with mimosa forest. These, except the large 
trees, were broken down and wrecked by the elephants, while 
the bushes and shrubs were distorted and crippled ; in fact, 
the condition of the bush in this great elephant haunt can only 
be described as “ rack and ruin.” 
Still following up the stream, as we turned a corner and 
came into view of a long, straight reach, bordered on one side 
by mimosa forest, and on the other by thick leafy scrub of 
suaki and other bushes, suddenly I descried two or three 
elephants a long way ahead, standing in the bed of the stream, 
close to a grove of large mimosa trees. As the wind was 
