ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
139 
THE MOTHER GUARDIAN OF MT. ELGON 
On the north-eastern fissure, through which the author gained access into the 
crater, the eruptive rocks have been carved into strange shapes. Probably at first 
they were buried in volcanic tuff, but erosion has left only the harder parts stand¬ 
ing. According to native tradition this crude column is a watchful spirit sitting 
against a rock which the people ought to avoid looking at. 
no large tuskers among them. While recon- 
noitering I happened to come up so close to 
two of the elephants as to get a unique pho¬ 
tograph. The one in the foreground was wal¬ 
lowing to his heart’s content, lying flat in the 
mud. His mate, beyond, had just left another 
wallowing hole. But our surprise had hardly 
begun, for in the same swamp we espied a 
leopard (Pantliera pardus cliui ). With so many 
elephants around he seemed entirely out of 
reach, but as luck would have it he fairly walked 
into the range of our rifles, presenting us with 
an unusually fine pelt. Repeatedly that day we 
came upon the remains of Jackson’s hartebeest, 
clearly killed by lions which here seem to pre¬ 
fer it to any other game, although zebras are 
common. It was evident too that hyenas, jack¬ 
als, marabous and vultures had all shared in 
the lions’ repast. 
Arriving at the base of Mt. Elgon we estab¬ 
lished what we called Junction Camp. From 
here we undertook the ascent of Mt. Elgon. 
