FOLLOW A HERD OF ELEPHANTS. [c h a p . x i .
this neighbourhood, as they were attracted by the
flocks of the Arabs.
On the following morning, at daybreak, several
Arabs arrived with a report that elephants had
been drinking in the river within half an hour s
march of our sleeping-place. I immediately started
with my men, accompanied by Florian, and we
shortly arrived upon the tracks of the herd. I
had three Hamran Arabs as trackers, one of whom,
Taher Noor, had engaged to accompany us throughout
the expedition.
For about eight miles we followed the spoor
through high-dried grass and thorny bush, until
we at length arrived at dense jungle of kittar,—
the most formidable of thé hooked thorn mimosas.
Here the tracks appeared to wander; some elephants
having travelled straight ahead, while others had
strayed to the right and left. While engaged in
determining the path of ' the herd, we observed four
giraffes at about half a mile distant, but they had
already perceived us, and were in full flight. For
about two hours we travelled upon the circuitous
tracks of the elephants to no purpose, when we
suddenly were startled by the shrill trumpet of
one of these animals in the thick thorns, a few
hundred yards to our left. The ground was so
intensely hard and dry that it was impossible to
distinguish the new tracks from the old, which
‘crossed and recrossed in all directions. I therefore
decided to walk carefully along the outskirts