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large quantities of game, including antelopes, buffaloes,
giraffes, and rhinoceros, none of -which we had
hunted, as we were in search of elephants. This
was the country where the aggageers had expected,
without fail, to find their game.
They now turned away from the Royan, and descended
a sandy valley at the foot of the mountains,
the bottom of which appeared to have been overflowed
during the wet season. Here were large strips of
forest, and numerous sandy watercourses, along the
dry bed of which we quickly discovered the deep
tracks of elephants. They had been digging fresh
holes in the sand in search of water, in which welcome
basins we found a good supply; we dismounted,
and rested the horses for half an hour, while the
hunters followed up the tracks on the bed of the
stream. Upon their return, they reported the elephants
as having wandered off upon the rocky ground,
that rendered further tracking impossible. We accordingly
remounted, and, upon arrival at the spot
where they had lost the tracks, we continued along
the bed of the stream. We had ridden about a mile,
and were beginning to despair, when suddenly we
turned a sharp angle in the watercourse, and Taher
Sherrif, who was leading, immediately reined in his
horse, and backed him towards the party. I followed
his example, and we were at once concealed by the
sharp bend of the river. He now whispered, that a
bull elephant was drinking from a hole it had scooped
in the sand, not far round the corner. AYi 1 liout the
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