The second march brought us to a very likely country, and the natives said there were many elephant in the vicinity. Sharp went out, but did not see any, the grass and thorn-scrub being almost impassable. Thence a four hours’ walk brought us to the top of a small range of hills, from the crest of which I saw an elephant standing in the thick cane-brake on the opposite slope. The main part of the caravan, with Sharp and Meldon, was some distance in front, as the difficulty of carrying my machila through the swamps made my progress slow. Praying that the wind would hold, I was carried as near as the brake would allow, and after a short walk, in the course of which I fell into an elephant-pit, found the unsuspecting old gentleman under a tree, and killed him with a single .303 bullet in the brain. He was a stupendous old bull, 11 ft. 6 in. at the shoulder, with a 64-in. foot (dry), and his teeth, 5 ft. 10 and 6 ft. 2, weighed 86 and 85 lbs. This success filled the others with envy, and a native coming in during lunch with news of a herd of forty, not very far off, Meldon and Sharp rushed off, only to return at sundown hot and tired, having hit and lost a decent bull, while I had gone out to inspect an old gentleman who came and waved his ears at me from a neighbouring hill, but which I spared, not being satisfied with his ivories. Leaving a few boys to bring the ivory and one foot, we trekked early next day to the ridge overlooking the river, passing fresh spoor and elephant tracks almost every minute, and, while looking for a likely camping-ground, saw a small herd of elephant in the valley. Sharp immediately went in pursuit, and unfortunately for him the Soudanese officer followed, and by cutting the line of elephant, gave the leaders the wind, and thus spoilt an excellent chance. From our camp on the hill we had a splendid view of ten miles or so of the Msisi valley and the hills opposite, and all day long, elephant, singly, in small herds, and, eventually in the afternoon, in large herds of two hundred or more, perambulated up and down, giving us the most magnificent chance of making their acquaintance. Sharp returned at lunch, hot and miserable, having shot a cow elephant--the grass being so high that it was impossible to judge beforehand what he fired at. The whole of the morning we heard shots from the far side of the river fired by Waganda or Wanyoro hunters, and presently, in a great cloud of dust, a herd of at least a hundred elephant crossed the river and wandered towards our camp. It was a most impressive sight, as they swept the long grass down in front of them as flat as if a steam-roller had passed over it. They stopped for a time about half a mile below us, blowing water and dust over their backs, while we tried to pick out the biggest bull with our glasses. We must have seen a thousand to fifteen hundred elephant that day, and heard thirty or forty shots from native guns across the Msisi.