had, by much uprooting, created
deep hollows, or recesses, wherein a family of two and more might snugly
rest, and not even a dart of sunshine might reach them. Round about the
great glade the dark leafy arches ran, and Dudu and his wife saw that
the elephant families were numerous--for by one sweeping look they could
tell that there were more elephants than there are human beings in a
goodly village. In some of the recesses there was a row of six and more
elephants; in another the parents stood head to head, and their
children, big and little, clung close to their parents' sides; in
another a family stood with heads turned towards the entrance, and so on
all around--while under a big tree in the middle there was quite a
gathering of big fellows, as though they were holding a serious palaver;
under another tree one seemed to be on the outlook; another paced slowly
from side to side; another plucked at this branch or at that; another
appeared to be heaving a tree, or sharpening a blunted ivory; others
seemed appointed to uproot the sprouts, lest the glade might become
choked with underwood. Near the entrance on both sides were a brave
company of them, faces turned outward, swinging their trunks, napping
their ears, rubbing against each other, or who with pate against pate
seemed to be drowsily considering something. There was a continual
coming in and a going out, singly, or in small companies. The roads
that ran through the glade were like a network, clean and smooth, while
that which went towards the king's place was so wide that twenty men
might walk abreast. At the far end the king stood under his own tree,
with his family under the arches behind him.

This was the City of the Elephants as Dudu and Salimba saw it. I ought
to say that the outlets of it were many. One went straight through the
woods in a line up river, at the other end it ran in a line following
the river downward; one went to a lakelet, where juicy plants and reeds
throve like corn in a man's fields, and where the elephants rejoiced in
its cool water, and washed themselves and infants; another went to an
ancient clearing where the plantain and manioc grew wild, and wherein
more than two human tribes might find food for countless seasons.

Then said their friend to Dudu and Salimba--"Now that I have shown you
our manner of life, it is for you to ease your longing for awhile and
rest with us. When you yearn for home, go tell our king, and he w