hese trails
that one can reach the upper heights of the mountain. Above the bush
belt comes the great forest belt, sublimely grand in its hugeness and
beauty, and above this belt comes the encircling band of bamboo forest
that reaches up to the timber line. There are probably five hundred
thousand acres of forest country in which the Kenia elephant may live
and wander and bring up his children. He has made trails that weave and
wind through the twilight shades of the forest, and the only ways in
which a man may penetrate to his haunts are by these ancient trails.
Mount Kenia, as seen from afar, looks soft and green and easy to stroll
up, but no man unguided could ever find his way out if once lost in the
labyrinth of trails that criss-cross in the forest.

For many years the elephants of Kenia have been practically secure from
the white hunter with his high-powered rifles. Warfare between the
native tribes on the slopes has been so constant that it was not until
three or four years ago that it was considered reasonably safe for the
government to allow hunting parties to invade the south side of the
mountain. Prior to that time the elephant's most formidable enemies were
the native hunter, who fought with poisoned spears and built deep pits
in the trails, pits cleverly concealed with thin strips of bamboo and
dried leaves, and the ivory hunting poachers. In 1906 the government
granted permission to Mr. Akeley to enter this hitherto closed district
to secure specimens for the Field Museum, and even then there was only a
narrow strip that was free from tribal warfare. It was at that time that
his party secured seven splendid tuskers, one of which, a
one-hundred-fifteen-pound tusker shot by Mrs. Akeley, was the largest
ever killed on Mount Kenia. And it was to this district that Mr. Akeley
led our _safari_ late in October to try again for elephants on the old
familiar stamping ground. We pitched our camp in a lovely spot where one
of his camps had stood three years before, just at the edge of the thick
bush and on the upper edge of the _shambas_. News travels quickly in
this country, and in a short time many of his old Kikuyu friends were at
our camping place. One or two of the old guides were on hand to lead the
way into elephant haunts and the natives near our camp reported that the
elephants had been coming down into their fields during the last few
days. Some had been heard only the day before. So the prospects looked
m