According To My Agreement, I Went To The Aggageers' Camp At 5
A.M. With Hadji Ali And Hassan, Both Mounted On My Two Horses,
Aggahr And Gazelle, While I Rode Tetel.
Taher Sheriff requested
me not to shoot at anything, as the shots might alarm and scare
away elephants; therefore I merely carried my little Fletcher, in
case of meeting the Base, who hunted in this country.
The
aggageers mounted their horses; each man carried an empty
water-skin slung to his saddle, to be filled at the river should
it be necessary to quit its banks. We started along the upward
course of the Royan.
For seven hours we rode, sometimes along the bed of the river
between lofty overhanging rocks, or through borders of fine
forest-trees; at other times we cut off a bend of the stream, and
rode for some miles through beautiful country diversified with
hills, and abounding in enormous baobab-trees (Adansonia
digitata). At length we entered the mountains at the foot of the
great chain. Here the views were superb. The Royan was no longer
a stream of ninety or a hundred yards in width, but it was
reduced to a simple mountain torrent about forty yards across,
blocked in many places by masses of rock, while at others it had
formed broad pools, all of which were now perfectly dry, and
exhibited a bed of glaring sand. Numerous mountain ravines joined
the main channel, and as the inclination was extremely rapid,
there could be little doubt that the violent storms of the rainy
season, descending from the great chain of mountains, would, by
concentrating in the Royan, suddenly give birth to an impetuous
torrent, that would materially affect the volume of the Settite.
The entire country bore witness to the effect of violent rains,
as the surface was torn and water-worn.
We had ridden nearly thirty miles, having seen large quantities
of game, including antelopes, buffaloes, giraffes, and
rhinoceroses, 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.
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