{"id":112,"date":"2025-09-16T17:20:45","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T16:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/word\/?p=112"},"modified":"2025-09-16T17:20:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T16:20:45","slug":"for-about-eight-miles-we-followed-the-spoor-through-high-dried-grass-and-thorny-bush-until-we-at-length-arrived-at-a-dense-jungle-of-kittar-the-most-formidable-of-the-hooked-thorn-mimosas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/for-about-eight-miles-we-followed-the-spoor-through-high-dried-grass-and-thorny-bush-until-we-at-length-arrived-at-a-dense-jungle-of-kittar-the-most-formidable-of-the-hooked-thorn-mimosas\/","title":{"rendered":"For about eight miles we followed the spoor through high dried grass and thorny bush, until we at length arrived at a dense jungle of kittar&#8211;the most formidable of the hooked thorn mimosas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For about eight miles we followed the spoor through high dried grass and thorny bush, until we at length arrived at a dense jungle of kittar&#8211;the most formidable of the hooked thorn mimosas. Here the tracks appeared to wander, some elephants having travelled straight ahead, while others had strayed to the right and left. For about two hours we travelled upon the circuitous tracks of the elephants to no purpose, when we suddenly were startled by the shrill trumpeting of one of these animals in the thick thorns, a few hundred yards to our left. The ground was so intensely hard and dry that it was impossible to distinguish the new tracks from the old, which crossed and recrossed in all directions. I therefore decided to walk carefully along the outskirts of the jungle, trusting to find their place of entrance by the fresh broken boughs. In about an hour we had thus examined two or three miles, without discovering a clew to their recent path, when we turned round a clump of bushes, and suddenly came in view of two grand elephants, standing at the edge of the dense thorns. Having our wind, they vanished instantly into the thick jungle. We could not follow them, as their course was down wind; we therefore made a circuit to leeward for about a mile, and finding that the elephants had not crossed in that direction, we felt sure that we must come upon them with the wind in our favor should they still be within the thorny jungle. This was certain, as it was their favorite retreat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For about eight miles we followed the spoor through high dried grass and thorny bush, until we at length arrived at a dense jungle of kittar&#8211;the most formidable of the hooked thorn mimosas. Here the tracks appeared to wander, some&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[4],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.4.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>For about eight miles we followed the spoor through high dried grass and thorny bush, until we at length arrived at a dense jungle of kittar-the most formidable of the hooked thorn mimosas - Samuel White Baker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/for-about-eight-miles-we-followed-the-spoor-through-high-dried-grass-and-thorny-bush-until-we-at-length-arrived-at-a-dense-jungle-of-kittar-the-most-formidable-of-the-hooked-thorn-mimosas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"For about eight miles we followed the spoor through high dried grass and thorny bush, until we at length arrived at a dense jungle of kittar-the most formidable of the hooked thorn mimosas - Samuel White Baker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For about eight miles we followed the spoor through high dried grass and thorny bush, until we at length arrived at a dense jungle of kittar&#8211;the most formidable of the hooked thorn mimosas. Here the tracks appeared to wander, some&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/for-about-eight-miles-we-followed-the-spoor-through-high-dried-grass-and-thorny-bush-until-we-at-length-arrived-at-a-dense-jungle-of-kittar-the-most-formidable-of-the-hooked-thorn-mimosas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Samuel White Baker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-16T16:20:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"melyn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/\",\"name\":\"Samuel White Baker\",\"description\":\"Victorian explorer &amp; hunter\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/for-about-eight-miles-we-followed-the-spoor-through-high-dried-grass-and-thorny-bush-until-we-at-length-arrived-at-a-dense-jungle-of-kittar-the-most-formidable-of-the-hooked-thorn-mimosas\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/for-about-eight-miles-we-followed-the-spoor-through-high-dried-grass-and-thorny-bush-until-we-at-length-arrived-at-a-dense-jungle-of-kittar-the-most-formidable-of-the-hooked-thorn-mimosas\/\",\"name\":\"For about eight miles we followed the spoor through high dried grass and thorny bush, until we at length arrived at a dense jungle of kittar-the most formidable of the hooked thorn mimosas - Samuel White Baker\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-16T16:20:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-16T16:20:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/#\/schema\/person\/a0c53db4ae65115a8eace8ce7c655de3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/for-about-eight-miles-we-followed-the-spoor-through-high-dried-grass-and-thorny-bush-until-we-at-length-arrived-at-a-dense-jungle-of-kittar-the-most-formidable-of-the-hooked-thorn-mimosas\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/for-about-eight-miles-we-followed-the-spoor-through-high-dried-grass-and-thorny-bush-until-we-at-length-arrived-at-a-dense-jungle-of-kittar-the-most-formidable-of-the-hooked-thorn-mimosas\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/for-about-eight-miles-we-followed-the-spoor-through-high-dried-grass-and-thorny-bush-until-we-at-length-arrived-at-a-dense-jungle-of-kittar-the-most-formidable-of-the-hooked-thorn-mimosas\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"For about eight miles we followed the spoor through high dried grass and thorny bush, until we at length arrived at a dense jungle of kittar&#8211;the most formidable of the hooked thorn mimosas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/#\/schema\/person\/a0c53db4ae65115a8eace8ce7c655de3\",\"name\":\"melyn\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/1.gravatar.com\/avatar\/aab291c1a5e95ed98dafe92ceaef8653?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/1.gravatar.com\/avatar\/aab291c1a5e95ed98dafe92ceaef8653?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"melyn\"},\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/author\/melyn\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"For about eight miles we followed the spoor through high dried grass and thorny bush, until we at length arrived at a dense jungle of kittar-the most formidable of the hooked thorn mimosas - Samuel White Baker","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/for-about-eight-miles-we-followed-the-spoor-through-high-dried-grass-and-thorny-bush-until-we-at-length-arrived-at-a-dense-jungle-of-kittar-the-most-formidable-of-the-hooked-thorn-mimosas\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"For about eight miles we followed the spoor through high dried grass and thorny bush, until we at length arrived at a dense jungle of kittar-the most formidable of the hooked thorn mimosas - Samuel White Baker","og_description":"For about eight miles we followed the spoor through high dried grass and thorny bush, until we at length arrived at a dense jungle of kittar&#8211;the most formidable of the hooked thorn mimosas. Here the tracks appeared to wander, some&hellip;","og_url":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/for-about-eight-miles-we-followed-the-spoor-through-high-dried-grass-and-thorny-bush-until-we-at-length-arrived-at-a-dense-jungle-of-kittar-the-most-formidable-of-the-hooked-thorn-mimosas\/","og_site_name":"Samuel White Baker","article_published_time":"2025-09-16T16:20:45+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"melyn","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/","name":"Samuel White Baker","description":"Victorian explorer &amp; hunter","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/for-about-eight-miles-we-followed-the-spoor-through-high-dried-grass-and-thorny-bush-until-we-at-length-arrived-at-a-dense-jungle-of-kittar-the-most-formidable-of-the-hooked-thorn-mimosas\/#webpage","url":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/for-about-eight-miles-we-followed-the-spoor-through-high-dried-grass-and-thorny-bush-until-we-at-length-arrived-at-a-dense-jungle-of-kittar-the-most-formidable-of-the-hooked-thorn-mimosas\/","name":"For about eight miles we followed the spoor through high dried grass and thorny bush, until we at length arrived at a dense jungle of kittar-the most formidable of the hooked thorn mimosas - Samuel White Baker","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-09-16T16:20:45+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-16T16:20:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/#\/schema\/person\/a0c53db4ae65115a8eace8ce7c655de3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/for-about-eight-miles-we-followed-the-spoor-through-high-dried-grass-and-thorny-bush-until-we-at-length-arrived-at-a-dense-jungle-of-kittar-the-most-formidable-of-the-hooked-thorn-mimosas\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/for-about-eight-miles-we-followed-the-spoor-through-high-dried-grass-and-thorny-bush-until-we-at-length-arrived-at-a-dense-jungle-of-kittar-the-most-formidable-of-the-hooked-thorn-mimosas\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/for-about-eight-miles-we-followed-the-spoor-through-high-dried-grass-and-thorny-bush-until-we-at-length-arrived-at-a-dense-jungle-of-kittar-the-most-formidable-of-the-hooked-thorn-mimosas\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"For about eight miles we followed the spoor through high dried grass and thorny bush, until we at length arrived at a dense jungle of kittar&#8211;the most formidable of the hooked thorn mimosas"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/#\/schema\/person\/a0c53db4ae65115a8eace8ce7c655de3","name":"melyn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"http:\/\/1.gravatar.com\/avatar\/aab291c1a5e95ed98dafe92ceaef8653?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"http:\/\/1.gravatar.com\/avatar\/aab291c1a5e95ed98dafe92ceaef8653?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"melyn"},"url":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/author\/melyn\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6bvCl-1O","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":113,"url":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/with-the-greatest-labor-i-led-the-way-creeping-frequently-upon-my-hands-and-knees-to-avoid-the-hooks-of-the-kittar-bush-and-occasionally-listening-for-a-sound\/","url_meta":{"origin":112,"position":0},"title":"With the greatest labor I led the way, creeping frequently upon my hands and knees to avoid the hooks of the kittar bush, and occasionally listening for a sound","date":"August 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"With the greatest labor I led the way, creeping frequently upon my hands and knees to avoid the hooks of the kittar bush, and occasionally listening for a sound. At length, after upward of an hour passed in this slow and fatiguing advance, I distinctly heard the flap of an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Nile&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":114,"url":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/this-was-a-highly-exciting-moment\/","url_meta":{"origin":112,"position":1},"title":"This was a highly exciting moment","date":"April 22, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"This was a highly exciting moment. Should they charge, there would not be a possibility of escape, as the hooked thorns rendered any sudden movement almost impracticable. In another moment there was a tremendous crash; and with a sound like a whirlwind the herd dashed through the crackling jungle. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Nile&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":144,"url":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/some-of-our-men-who-had-followed-the-runaway-horses-shortly-returned-and-reported-that-during-our-fight-with-the-bull-they-had-heard-other-elephants-trumpeting-in-the-dense-nabbuk-jungle-near-the-ri\/","url_meta":{"origin":112,"position":2},"title":"Some of our men, who had followed the runaway horses, shortly returned and reported that during our fight with the bull they had heard other elephants trumpeting in the dense nabbuk jungle near the river","date":"July 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Some of our men, who had followed the runaway horses, shortly returned and reported that during our fight with the bull they had heard other elephants trumpeting in the dense nabbuk jungle near the river. We all dismounted, and sent the horses to a considerable distance, lest they should by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Nile&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":178,"url":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/having-passed-the-kittar-thorn-i-turned-and-seeing-that-the-beasts-had-gone-straight-on-i-brought-aggahrs-head-round-and-tried-to-give-chase-but-it-was-perfectly-impossible\/","url_meta":{"origin":112,"position":3},"title":"Having passed the kittar thorn I turned, and, seeing that the beasts had gone straight on, I brought Aggahr's head round and tried to give chase; but it was perfectly impossible","date":"July 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Having passed the kittar thorn I turned, and, seeing that the beasts had gone straight on, I brought Aggahr's head round and tried to give chase; but it was perfectly impossible. It was only a wonder that the horse had escaped in ground so difficult for riding. Although my clothes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Nile&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":176,"url":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/our-course-lay-as-usual-along-the-banks-of-the-river\/","url_meta":{"origin":112,"position":4},"title":"Our course lay, as usual, along the banks of the river","date":"May 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Our course lay, as usual, along the banks of the river. We decided to encamp at a spot known to the Arabs as Deladilla. This was the forest upon the margin of the river where I had first shot the bull elephant when the aggageers fought with him upon foot.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Nile&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46,"url":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/at-gozerajup-two-hundred-and-forty-six-miles-from-berber-our-route-was-changed\/","url_meta":{"origin":112,"position":5},"title":"At Gozerajup, two hundred and forty-six miles from Berber, our route was changed","date":"January 30, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"At Gozerajup, two hundred and forty-six miles from Berber, our route was changed. We had hitherto followed the course of the Atbara, but we were now to leave that river on our right, while we travelled about ninety miles south-east to Cassala, the capital of the Taka country, on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Nile&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aberth.com\/samuelwhitebaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}