THE WESTERN BEND 
245 
These elephants were pulling up and eating the cane- 
grass—sedge, or a big jointed-reed [carex or orundo )— 
and later on I had opportunity at close quarters of 
verifying the fact. The herd was attended by kites and 
grey herons (probably Ardea melanocephala ), soaring 
round and pouncing on insects or reptiles disturbed by 
the grazing monsters. Curiously there were here no white 
egrets in company. After watching and sketching the 
elephants for an hour, I fired a shot in the air. The cows 
closed up at once in a solid phalanx, trunks towering up 
Two of the Herd.—Elephant Bull and Cow. 
aloft to test the air ; but none of the outlying bulls took 
the slightest notice. 
Close up to these last the grass had been burnt, so that 
a direct approach appeared easy—though quite probably 
it might not have proved so. I wrote in diary:—“For 
the second time in my life it has been my luck to come 
across massed elephants in broad daylight, open country, 
and a strong breeze. On the first occasion, after an 
hour of absorbing excitement, we secured four elephants 
aggregating 300 lb. of ivory. This time I am content 
to leave them in peace, though actually at my mercy.” 1 
1 Subsequent experience in these abominable bogs, with their deep 
intersecting khors , suggests that the attack might not have been so easy 
as I had anticipated at the time. 
