“If it be God’s will!” answered Stasch gravely.

[25] Bosclapha Canna.
[26] The wild boars of Africa have a broad head, round, not three-cornered, tusks, and a fairly long tail which they elevate when attacked.
[27] It is true that gorillas live mostly in the forests of western Africa, but Livingstone also met them in the east. They often carry off children. The gorilla of East Africa is less vicious than that of the west, for it does not kill the wounded huntsman, but is satisfied with biting off his fingers.

CHAPTER XVI

They did not break up camp until several days later. They departed at dawn—six o’clock—after a short prayer, in which they earnestly commended themselves to God. At their head rode Stasch on horseback, preceded by Saba. Behind him solemnly marched King, flapping his ears and carrying on his enormous back the palanquin in which Nell and Mea were seated; then, under Kali’s guidance, followed the horses, tied together with a long rope, and laden with all sorts of baggage; and little Nasibu, on the donkey—which was as fat as the boy—brought up the rear.

At that early hour the heat did not inconvenience them very much, although the day was fine, and from behind the Karamajo Mountains the sun rose in great splendor from a cloudless sky. An eastern breeze mitigated the heat of its rays. Occasionally the wind blew a gale, waving the jungle grass like billows of the sea. Vegetation had grown so luxuriantly after the copious showers—especially at the lower levels—that King and the horses were covered up by the grass, so that all that could be seen above the waving jungle was the white palanquin, which looked like a ship sailing on a lake. After marching for an hour they came to a dry, high plateau lying to the east of Linde Mountain, and saw enormous thistles,[[28]] with stems as thick as tree trunks and flowers as large as human heads. On the slope of many plateaus, which from a distance looked barren, they found heather eight feet high. Other plants, that grow very small in Europe, flourished here large as the thistles and heather, and giant trees, standing by themselves in the jungle, looked like church towers. Especially that species of fig-tree known as the “daroo-tree,” whose “weeping” branches turn into new stems on touching the ground, covered enormous areas, so that each tree made a wilderness in itself.

From afar off the country appeared like one unbroken forest; but when nearer it could be seen that the large trees grew only in certain places—at various distances apart. Toward the north very few of them could be seen, and the country seemed more like a mountainous steppe covered with an even jungle, out of which the umbrella-shaped acacias alone towered. The grasses there were greener, smaller, and apparently better suited for grazing. Nell from her high seat on King’s back and Stasch from a hillock saw larger herds of antelope than they had ever seen before. The animals of each species grazed by themselves, or occasionally intermingled with the gnu, boar, gazel, Ariel, female antelope, buffalo, spring-buck, large koodoo, and others. There were a great many zebras and giraffes to be seen. On observing the caravan in the grass the animals stood still, threw up their heads, pricked up their ears, and looked at the white palanquin in surprise; then they immediately dispersed and ran away for a few hundred feet, then stared again at the strange apparition, until they had satisfied their curiosity, and calmly began to graze again. From time to time there appeared in front of the caravan a rhinoceros growling and snarling, but notwithstanding its aggressive nature and its disposition to attack everything that comes in its way, it fled ignominiously before the glance of King, who was only kept from following it by a command from Stasch.

The African elephant hates the rhinoceros, and if he comes across a fresh trail he follows it up till he finds his adversary, and, relying on his superior strength, begins the fight in which the rhinoceros is nearly always worsted. It was not very easy for King, who certainly had more than one death on his conscience, to renounce his old habit, but he was now tame and accustomed to look upon Stasch as his master; therefore, on hearing his voice, and seeing his bright and threatening eyes, the beast dropped his upturned trunk, drew in his ears, and calmly walked on. Though Stasch would have enjoyed seeing a fight between these giants, he was afraid of its effect on Nell. If the elephant were to gallop, the palanquin might fall to pieces, or, what would be worse, the enormous animal might knock it against a tree; so Nell’s life would be in great danger. From the tales of the chase which Stasch had read when at Port Said he learned that in India people hunting tigers are more afraid that the elephant, in the excitement of the chase, might knock the small tower against a tree than they are even of the tigers. Besides, the giant gallops so clumsily that to ride like that any length of time would endanger one’s health.