660 
African Game Trails 
fine red blankets, and put them to sleep 
in a little tent, keeping their spears in his 
own tent, as a measure of precaution to 
prevent their running away. The elder of 
the two, he informed me, would certainly 
have a fit of hysterics when we killed our 
elephant! Cuninghame was also joined by 
other old friends of former hunts, Kikuyu 
’Ndorobo these, who spoke Kikuyu like the 
people who cultivated the fields that cov¬ 
ered the river bottoms and hillsides of the 
adjoining open country, and who were, in¬ 
deed, merely outlying, forest-dwelling mem¬ 
bers of the lowland tribes. In the deep 
woods we met one old Derobo, who had 
no connection with any more advanced 
tribe, whose sole belongings were his spear, 
skin cloak, and fire stick, and who lived 
purely on honey and game; unlike the bas¬ 
tard ’Ndorobo, he was ornamented with 
neither paint nor grease. But the ’Ndo¬ 
robo who were our guides stood farther up 
in the social scale. The men passed most 
of their time in the forest, but up the moun¬ 
tain sides they had squalid huts on little 
clearings, with shambas, where their wives 
raised scanty crops. To the ’Ndorobo, and 
to them alone, the vast, thick forest was an 
open book; without their aid as guides 
both Cuninghame and our own gun-bearers 
were at fault, and found their way around 
with great difficulty and slowness. The 
bush people had nothing in the way of 
clothing save a blanket over the shoulders, 
but wore the usual paint and grease and 
ornaments; each carried a spear which 
might have a long and narrow, or short 
and broad blade; two of them wore head¬ 
dresses of tripe —skull-caps made from the 
inside of a sheep’s stomach. 
For two days after reaching our camp in 
the open glade on the mountain side it 
rained. We were glad of this, because it 
meant that the elephants would not be in 
the bamboos, and Cuninghame and the 
’Ndorobo went off to hunt for fresh signs. 
Cuninghame is as skilful an elephant hunt¬ 
er as can be found in Africa, and is one of 
the very few white men able to help even 
the wild bushmen at their work. By the 
afternoon of the second day they were fair¬ 
ly well satisfied as to the whereabouts of the 
quarry. 
The following morning a fine rain was 
still falling when Cuninghame, Heller, and 
I started on our hunt; but by noon it had 
stopped. Of course we went in single file 
and on foot; not even a bear hunter from 
the cane-brakes of the lower Mississippi 
could ride through that forest. We left our 
home camp standing, taking blankets and 
a coat and change of underclothing for each 
of us, and two small Whymper tents, with 
enough food for three days; I also took 
my wash kit and a book from the pigskin 
library. First marched the ’Ndorobo guides,, 
each with his spear, his blanket round his 
shoulders, and a little bundle of corn and 
sweet potato. Then came Cuninghame, 
followed by his gun-bearer. Then I came, 
clad in khaki-colored flannel shirt and kha¬ 
ki trousers buttoning down the legs, with 
hob-nailed shoes and a thick slouch hat; I 
had intended to wear rubber-soled shoes, 
but the soaked ground was too slippery. 
My two gun-bearers followed, carrying the 
Holland and the Springfield. Then came 
Heller, at the head of a dozen porters and 
skinners; he and they were to fall behind 
when we actually struck fresh elephant 
spoor, but to follow our trail by the help, 
of a Derobo who was left with them. 
For three hours our route lay along the 
edge of the woods. We climbed into and 
out of deep ravines in which groves of 
tree ferns clustered. We waded through 
streams of swift water, whose course was 
broken by cataract and rapid. We passed 
through shambas, and by the doors of little 
hamlets of thatched beehive huts. We 
met flocks of goats and hairy, fat-tailed 
sheep guarded by boys; strings of burden¬ 
bearing women stood meekly to one side to- 
let us pass; parties of young men sauntered 
by, spear in hand. 
Then we struck into the great forest, and 
in an instant the sun was shut from sight by 
the thick screen of wet foliage. It was a 
riot of twisted vines, interlacing the trees; 
and bushes. Only the elephant paths,, 
which, of every age, crossed and recrossed 
it hither and thither, made it passable. 
One of the chief difficulties in hunting ele¬ 
phants in the forest is that it is impossible 
to travel, except very slowly and with much 
noise, off these trails, so that it is some¬ 
times very difficult to take advantage of the 
wind; and although the sight of the ele¬ 
phant is dull, both its sense of hearing and 
its sense of smell are exceedingly acute. 
Hour after hour we worked our way on¬ 
ward through tangled forest and matted 
