I returned to the tent at 4 P.M.
satisfied that sport was to be had.
On my arrival at camp I found the natives very excited at the appearance
of rain, which they firmly believed had been called specially by their
chief. All were busy preparing their molotes (iron hoes), fitting new
handles, and getting everything ready for the periodical sowing of their
crop.
The handles of the molotes are extremely long, from seven to ten feet,
and the instrument being shaped like a miner's spade (heart-shaped), is
used like a Dutch hoe, and is an effective tool in ground that has been
cleared, but is very unfitted for preparing fresh soil. Iron ore of good
quality exists on the surface throughout this country.
The Latookas, like the Baris, are excellent blacksmiths, producing a
result that would astonish an English workman, considering the rough
nature of their tools, which are confined to a hammer, anvil, and tongs;
the latter formed of a cleft-stick of green wood, while the two former
are stones of various sizes. Their bellows consist of two pots about a
foot deep; from the bottom of each is an earthenware pipe about two feet
long, the points of which are inserted in a charcoal fire. The mouths of
the pots are covered with very pliable leather, loose and well greased;
in the centre of each leather covering is an upright stick about four
feet long, and the bellows-blower works these rapidly with a
perpendicular motion, thus producing a strong blast. The natives are
exceedingly particular in the shape of their molotes, and invariably
prove them by balancing them on their heads and ringing them by a blow
with the finger.
The Latookas being much engaged in preparing for cultivation, I had some
difficulty in arranging a hunting party; my men abhorred the idea of
elephant hunting, or of anything else that required hard work and
included danger. However, I succeeded in engaging Adda, the third chief
of Latooka, and several natives, to act as my guides, and I made my
arrangements for a stated day.
On the 17th of April I started at 5 A.M. with my three horses and two
camels, the latter carrying water and food. After a march of two or
three hours through the beautiful hunting-grounds formed by the valley
of Latooka, with its alternate prairies and jungles, I came upon the
tracks of rhinoceros, giraffes, and elephants, and shortly moved a
rhinoceros, but could get no shot, owing to the thick bush in which he
started and disappeared quicker than I could dismount. After a short
circuit in search of the rhinoceros, we came upon a large herd of
buffaloes, but at the same moment we heard elephants trumpeting at the
foot of the mountains.
