XI 
FROM EL BO GO I TO LAKE RUDOLPH 
247 
passable pair of teeth and one or two very small ones ; but 
these were a poor reward for all our efforts. I may in passing— 
apropos of the finding of tusks in the forest—take the oppor¬ 
tunity of pointing out that the statements sometimes met with 
in books, to the effect that there is some mystery about what 
becomes of the remains of elephants that die in the forests, are 
erroneous. I have often and often met with their skulls and 
bones in the course of my hunting, and, if they are not more 
commonly seen, it is because travellers do not generally spend 
their time, as I did, in traversing these in all directions. That 
the tusks are not so often found is obviously because they have 
already, at some previous time, been appropriated by natives ; 
but I have, in the course of my experience in Central Africa, 
come across a good many, at one time and another. 
I now began to get very impatient for the return of my 
caravan ; for I was eager to be off northward into new hunting- 
grounds, where I hoped to find the odds not quite so long 
against the hunter as they are in this impracticable dense scrub. 
The elephants seemed to have left our neighbourhood, too, now, 
and I did not care to make any more lengthy excursions, so I 
occupied myself with adjusting loads and completing, as far as 
possible, my preparations for continuing my journey. I had a 
large pit dug, in a suitable spot among some trees hard by, 
and buried all my ivory, taking care to injure the creeping 
plants which covered the ground as little as possible, so that 
after a shower or two of rain all traces of the ground having 
been disturbed would soon be obliterated. I, however, showed 
Lesiat and Baithai the spot, so that, on my return, should it 
have been tampered with, they might not be able to disclaim 
responsibility. 
They often visited me, and kept me well supplied with 
honey. I sometimes gave Lesiat as many beans as his wife 
could carry away ; but he did not now seem to care much 
for any food I gave him except meat, which is always 
welcome to an Ndorobo. The fact was, honey was very 
