Evening star., 1923-10-14

But finding the elephants is not SO
frequent or easy as the multiplicity
of the signs would indicate. One
reason is that the signs of elephants
tracks, rubbed trees and so forth
are more or less enduring, many of
them being very plain in places where
the elephants have not been for months
or even years. II, however, you come
on fresh elephant tracks not more
than q day old you can usually catch
up with the elephants, for, as they
feed along through the country. they
do not go rapidly. Only IL they are
making trek from one region TO
another 1t might take much longer
to catch them.
X u \ u
NNCE up with an elephant, IL you
~ are shooting you are pretty sure
that even IL he is charging you a
bullet from an elephant gun, hitting
him in the head, will stop him. though
1t may not hit him in the vital spot.
Moreover, If you stop the leader OF a.
bunch that Is charging you. the bunch
will stop. ] never heard of a case
charge was stopped and the others
kept on, and / doubt IL we ever will
hear of such a thing, for II 1t does
happen there won't be any one to
tell about 1t.
1t Is even unusual for an elephant
to keep on after being HIT even IL the
hit does not knock him down. The
old cow that charged me at the head
Of ten others, as previously described,
was rather the exception TO this rule.
for after my first shot stopped her
, she came on again until my second
shot knocked her down. But had
one experience that was entirely at
variance with this rule. One old bull
took thirteen shots from my rife and
about as many from Mrs Akeley's be-
fore he was content either to die or
run away.
We had just come down from the
Ice fields 1900 feet up on the sum-
nit of Mount Kenia, overlord of the
game regions of British East Africa,
and had come out of the forest direct
ly south of the pinnacle and within
two or three miles of an old camping
ground in the temperate climate 5000
or 5000 feet above sea level, where
we had camped five years before and
again one year before. Instead of
going on around toward the west TO
the base camp we decided to stop here
and have the base camp brought up
TO US.
The place where our camp was was
perfectly good elephant country. but
wanted to go back up where the
forests stop and the bamboo -four
ishes because ii was a bamboo setting
that / had selected for the group of
elephants I was then working on for
the African Hall in the American Mu-
scum of Natural History. / started
out with four days rations, gun boys.
porters. camera men and so forth
fifteen men in all. The second day
out brought me to about 5000 feet
above sea level, where the bamboo
began.
Following a we'll worn elephant
trail in search of this Photographic
material, 1 ran on to trail of three
old bulls. The tracks were old
probably as much as four days-but
the size was so unusual that l decided
to postpone the photography and fol-
low them. I did not expect to have
to catch up their four four days
travel, for I hoped that they would
be feeding in the neighborhood and
that the trail I was on would cross
a fresher trail made in their wander
ings around for food.
had run upon their tracks first
about noon. I followed until dark
without finding any fresher signs.
The next morning we started out at
daybreak and finally entered an open
ing such as elephants use as feed
ing ground. 1t Is their custom to
mill around in these openings. eating
the vegetation and trampling 1t down
until 1t offers little more, and then
move on. In six months or so II
Will be grown UP again eight or ten
feet high and they are very apt to
revisit 1t and go through the same
process again.
r r **
COON after we entered this opening
- / came suddenly upon fresh tracks
of the elephants had been following.
knew that the animals were not
far away. Certainly they had been
there not more than an hour before.
followed the trail among the low
bush in the opening, but It merely
wandered about, repeatedly bringing
me back to the place where I had first
seen the fresh tracks, and realized
that I might do this indefinitely with
out getting closer to the elephants, Sc
decided to go outside the opening
and circle around it to see IL I could
find the trail of my bulls as they en-
tered the forest
This opening was at the point on
the mountain where the forest proper
and the bamboos merged. I followed
an elephant path out of the opening
on the bamboo side and had gone but
little way when I discovered fresh
signs Of my three bulls, who had evil
IDENTIFY left the opening by the same
about the same time / heard the
cracking of bamboo ahead, probably
about two hundred yards away. This
was the signal for preparation for the
, final stalk.
| I stood for moment watching one
of the trackers going up the trail to
a point where 1t turned at right
angles in the direction OF the sounds
had heard. There he stopped at rest,
having indicated to me by signs that
they had gone In that direction. I
turned my back to the trail, watching
their loads amid a clump of large
trees that would afford some proteo-
ton in caaa OF q stamneda In their