The natives became quite friendly, and brought us large quantities of a small kind of bean, and helped us to cut out the tusks. Our carriers came to see the elephant, and forming a ring round it, chanted a song in its honour, and each man threw a handful of grass on its side to show his respect, but, of course, would not eat the meat. Curiously enough, the natives also refused to eat the meat, although they were very poor; they informed us that they would eat hippo meat, but not elephant, which seemed to me a very subtle distinction. We cut off a portion of the trunk and boiled it gently for twelve hours, but did not eat much of it when it came to table; the meat was excellent, but the two unpleasant tubes through the middle, and the wrinkled black skin with its short, stubby bristles, did not give an appetizing, appearance to the _plat_. However, the youthful cannibals devoured it, although there must have been at least ten pounds, in the short space of an hour. The two elderly cannibals disappeared during the night. It was evidently a move on the part of our boys, who resented the proportion of presents that fell to the cannibals’ lot. The reports of the country in front were not encouraging, so we bought up a considerable quantity of beans; and the following morning marched across the plain, and arrived near another village, similar to the one we had left, which was also carefully hidden in the jungle. This village was elaborately stockaded, and the natives absolutely refused to allow me to enter; however, I eventually succeeded in obtaining a guide, and we continued our march till we arrived at a small lagoon, where our guide promptly left us. Here we saw a considerable number of topi-hartebeeste and Uganda kob; these, with the exception of one waterbuck mentioned above, were the only game that we had seen for many long weeks; and it was a great treat to have a change from the inevitable goat. Here the plain opened out to a tremendous width and had the most desolate appearance, all the short grass being burnt; and the only relieving features were a few patches of thorn-scrub and an occasional candelabra euphorbia. Having no guide and no idea of what was before us, it was rather a risky undertaking to go ahead without reconnoitring; but retreat was impossible, owing to the scarcity of provisions, and the quantity of game rendered actual starvation improbable. The following morning we launched forth, and after a long march, as I was beginning to get doubtful as to whether we should find water, I sighted the Rutchuru river, which here swings back towards the east. There was a considerable quantity of Uganda kob, topi-hartebeeste, and Chanler’s reedbuck, and on the path we saw several traces of lions, while the river teemed with hippopotami. The country is very barren, and there are numerous salt-pans, which at a distance appear like snow.