410 
AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 
on the contrary, belongs with such cloven-hoofed creatures 
as the cow and pig, in the group of ungulates which has 
developed equally two main digits in each foot; a group 
much more numerously represented than the other in the 
world of to-day. 
As the hippos grew familiar with the camp they became 
bolder and more venturesome after nightfall. They grunted 
and brayed to one another throughout the night, splashed 
and wallowed among the reeds, and came close to the tents 
during their dry-land rambles in the darkness. One night, 
in addition to the hippo chorus, we heard the roaring of 
lions and the trumpeting of elephants. We were indeed 
in the heart of the African wilderness. 
Early in the morning after this concert we started for 
a day’s rhino hunt, Heller and Cuninghame having just 
finished the preparation, and transport to camp, of the 
skin of Kermit’s bull. Loring, who had not hitherto seen 
either elephant or rhino alive, went with us; and by good 
luck he saw both. 
A couple of miles from camp we were crossing a wide, 
flat, swampy valley in which the coarse grass grew as tall 
as our heads. Here and there were kob, which leaped up 
on the ant-hills to get a clear view of us. Suddenly our 
attention was attracted by the movements of a big flock 
of cow herons in front of us, and then watching sharply we 
caught a glimpse of some elephants, about four hundred 
yards off. We now climbed an ant-hill ourselves, and in¬ 
spected the elephants, to see if among them were any big- 
tusked bulls. There were no bulls, however; the little herd 
consisted of five cows and four calves, which were march¬ 
ing across a patch of burnt ground ahead of us, accom- 
