TJic Country Gcntlaiiaiis Mas;azinc 



497 



^)unting, Jjlshing, anii (Sliooting. 



AN ELEPHANT ADVENTURE. 



IX a previous page of the present volume 

 (p. no) there appeared an article on 

 Elephant Hunting in Abyssinia. The follow- 

 ing account of an encounter with a bull 

 elephant, as related by Mr Chapman in his 

 " Travels in the Interior of South Africa," is 

 agreeably exciting : — 



"At length I found myself in an extensive mogonono 

 field, swarming with elephants in every direction, 

 crushing down the bushes with a sound resembling the 

 roaring of waves. Not knowing in which direction 

 to turn, I climbed a mokala (camel-thorn) tree, of 

 which there were a few about, and which seemed to be 

 the standing-place of numerous elephants every day. 

 On reaching the top of this tree, I found myself sur- 

 rounded by elephants, mostly cows, in every direction, 

 in groups closer than I ever dreamt of. My position 

 not being very envialile, I sat in breathless suspense 

 observing the movements of the numbers of gigantic 

 animals round me on every side. At the distance of 

 about 1 20 yards to the eastward of my position, I 

 soon discoveredthe old bull which 1 had followed, 

 surrounded by a group of about a dozen cows, caress- 

 ing and fondling him ; some of them dashing him with 

 water from their trunks, others with sand. Those 

 elephants below his wind, probably scenting his blood, 

 lifted their tnmks, and after smelling a moment, 

 gradually moved off. The elephants below me were 

 working their trunks about, but made no effort to 

 move out of the ]:)ush in which they prol^al^ly considered 

 themselves concealed ; while groups, in other direc- 

 tions, that seemed to have got over the alarm caused 

 by the reports of our guns, were moving slowly, fol- 

 lot^-ed by their calves, breaking down the branches, and 

 ]mlling up young shoots and grubbing roots, whiclr 

 they strewed before their young with an air of the most 

 maternal solicitude. A shot fired on the outskirts Ijy 

 my servant, Abraham, drove a troop towards my posi- 

 tion, and another and another shot seemed to be l:)ring- 

 ing masses of cow elephants from every direction round 

 me ; but to my great relief, as if actuated by one im- 

 pulse, the foremost began to move into two parallel 

 files, one on each side of me." — (vol. i., p. 154.) 



Mr Chapman in the following adventure 



VOL. I. 



shews a remarkable degree of coolness, cour- 

 age, and perseverance : — 



''The troop, finding their prostrate fellow deaf to 

 their entreaties, moved on, and I soon followed, liut 

 was repeatedly driven Irack by a worthless old hag of 

 a cow (elephant), who, with the air of a vixen, would 

 not allow me to coine near the troop ; ajid I found it 

 was necessary to kill her first, if I wished to get at the 

 rest. .So dasliing towards them she turned upon me 

 just as I had dismounted, uttering a fearful cry. This 

 was a desperate move ; it sealed her fate, though mine 

 seemed in greater jeopardy. My horse, terrified at 

 the elephant's thrilling cry, pulled the reins out of my 

 hand, and left me on the open plain, staring death in 

 the face, without any cover to flee to. At this critical 

 moment, I despaired of life ; but presence of mind, 

 together ^vith unusual firmness, were now vouchsafed 

 to me. I felt I had but one chance for life, and that I 

 now held m my hand. Now for courage and a steai:y 

 shot. It was the courage of despair, and it was Pro- 

 vidence that directed my aim. I awaited the furious 

 animal's approach, with my gun at my shoulder; but 

 my hand shook so \iolently that I could take no sure 

 aim, and I felt reluctant to pull the trigger. 



"Still the enemy approached with outstretched 

 trunk ; her loud trumpeting had ceased, but she uttered 

 a series of short-fetched grunts, which sounded in my 

 ears like an exclamation of triumph at having her 

 enemy in her power— a victim she \\ould grasp in ano- 

 ther moment with her powerful trunk, and crush 

 to atoms with her ponderous feet. At this juncture, 

 she happened to lower her trunk from before her ; and 

 the slight movement leaving her forehead exposed, 

 I instantly took advantage of it, and a bullet from my 

 rifle crashed riglit into the centre of her skull, and she 

 came down with overwhelming violence at the distance 

 of seven paces from the spot where I was planted. 

 But if before I had been sustained by Providence, 

 and, indeed, I felt that something beyond my physical 

 power had savetl me, I now lost all my fortitude, and 

 stood for a moment perfectly aghast, trembling, and 

 most horribly bewildered. 



"But, now, again recovering myself, and inspired 

 by the first law of nature, to lose no time in retreating 

 from a possible death-struggle with my now prostrate 

 foe, I ran to my horse, standing at the distance of 200 

 yards, and cocking his ears in amazement at the fray. 



K K 



