d through the Jungle]

So if the herd has chosen merely the biggest and strongest elephant to
be their president and he makes such mistakes as that, they soon depose
him; that is, they no longer follow him. They look around for some other
leader who can discover a better way, and they follow him instead. And
if afterward they find that he is wise and clever, and does not make
mistakes, they follow him as their leader every day after that, even if
he is not quite so big and strong as the other elephant was.

He then becomes the new president, if he is at least strong enough to
make a good gap through the jungle. Most of the elephants could pass
through that; only the biggest bull, the deposed president, would have
the trouble of enlarging the gap with his body in going through it. And
this would serve him right!

In the same manner the leader of the herd must not go over ground that
is _too hard_, for elephants are such heavy animals that it jars the
bones of their feet to go over hard ground for a great distance. If
there has been no rain for several weeks, then in a hot country the
ground gets very hard in some places. So if there has been no rain near
a herd for some time, a wise leader avoids these hard places.

So, as you see, an elephant leader has to be quite clever in merely
avoiding difficulties, in the daily search for food. And that is not
all! The food itself may be plentiful in one part of the jungle, and
rather scarce in another; for in one direction there may have been just
enough showers recently to bring out the fresh leaves on the trees; but
in another direction there may have been no rain at all for some time,
and so there would be no fresh leaves there.

Why, even in your own town there may be a good shower of rain in one
part of the town, and no rain at all in another part. So it might be in
the jungle; a wise leader would know this by instinct, and he would take
the herd along that part of the jungle where there had been recent
showers of rain, and where there would be enough fresh leaves.

_He Must Provide Daily Drink_

After the elephants have had enough to eat for the day, they must have
enough clear water to drink. And to get this is _the hardest daily duty
of the leader_.

In the jungle, even if the leader makes a little mistake and goes the
wrong way, there may still be enough to eat, because the elephants can
always find enough trees in the end by going a little farther: so they
wo