Homeward Bound 
255 
ever, we contrived to throw a line to the poor fellows and 
managed to draw them into shelter. Five men, alas! were 
not seen again. The Askari, three Wangilima and a man of 
the Wabudu tribe had met with their fate. In addition, a 
great many articles had been lost, amongst them Czeczatka’s 
service rifle and side-arms, his tent, cartridges, and a tin box 
of writing materials. 
After having convinced ourselves that there was nothing 
further to be done in the way of succouring the victims of the 
accident, we prepared to continue our journey. Czeczatka was 
given one of the other boats and I gave him two of my people 
to help make up the gap in his crew. Another did the same. 
Then the episode was over and forgotten; the men started 
chanting their melodious native canoe-songs once more as they 
paddled tranquilly along the wide expanse of the river, their 
voices echoing and re-echoing against the dense walls of foliage 
on the banks. 
The singing ceased abruptly. ^^TembOy bana^' —“elephants, 
master ”—shouted the man in the bows as he turned round to 
me. I jumped up and saw the enormous forms of five elephants 
bulging out of the water, in which the colossal creatures were 
standing about half-covered and besplashing themselves in lazy 
serenity. I seized my rifle and my camera, uncertain what to 
do. The paddles were dipped very gently, so that no noise 
might betray our presence. The river was about 600 metres 
broad at the spot. The approach of the boats appeared to 
arouse a certain amount of uneasiness amongst the elephants, 
which was evinced by the raising of their trunks and the flapping 
of their ears. Creating a tremendous ripple in the stream, they 
returned to the bank, where there was a young animal who 
appeared to be in a very aggressive mood, and who was venting 
his spleen on the boughs of the trees, whilst the others stepped 
out of their bath and crashed into the forest. The youngster 
raged around for a time trumpeting, and then, turning in circles 
in the shallow water near the bank, sucked up the water in his 
trunk and spurted it into the air. As no danger appeared to 
