196 
ELEPHANT-HUNTING IN EAST AFRICA 
CHAP. 
in the head from my Metford .450 which I was carrying. 
And, as it floundered about still, and I was determined not to 
let it move from the spot, if possible to prevent it, I finished 
up with a couple of shots in the lungs. It was a very big 
old bull, in poor condition. 1 Its measurements were: total 
length over back from tip of upper lip to root of tail, 11 feet ; 
total length in straight line opposite side, 10 feet; total 
length over back from tip of upper lip to end of tail, 13 feet 
4 inches ; perpendicular height in straight line at shoulder, 5 feet 
3 inches. These were carefully taken just after it was shot, 
and entered accurately at once in my notebook. I sent on 
Squareface and the Ndorobo at once, to prospect the country 
ahead, while we formed a snug camp in the spinney (where 
there was but little undergrowth that needed cutting away to 
make room for my tent), within a few steps of the carcase, so 
that the men could conveniently cut up the meat. 
On his return in the evening, Squareface reported that, 
though they had gone a long way down the valley, they found 
no spoor nor any sign of elephants whatever, nor even suitable 
bush. So, seeing no chance of doing any good by going 
farther in this direction, I retraced my steps the following 
morning (8th September) to the camp I had started from the 
day before. I had hoped to reach the end of the Seya River : 
but there can be no doubt whatever that its water does not 
reach beyond the Mathews Mountains ; for not only did all 
the natives I questioned assure me that farther there was no 
water, but Swahili traders who had travelled by a route to the 
eastward of those mountains told me they crossed no such 
river there. This is not surprising in Africa, where the evapora¬ 
tion is so enormous and the soil so porous, while the rainfall is 
very fickle, for, on my return journey, I found the Seya with 
no running water in its bed, even much nearer the Lorogi 
Mountains, in which its sources lie. 
1 This was a large rhinoceros for Equatorial Africa. In Southern Africa they may 
possibly run larger. On Lake Rudolph they are much smaller. 
