With Flashlight and Rifle ^ 



the same animals are constantly reappearing. Elephants 

 are very active, climb mountains easily, and keep 

 continually on the move. 



Thus Hans Meyer, in his wonderful work The Kili- 

 iiiandjaro, talks of the abundance of elephants on this 

 mountain and of the large quantities of ivory to be secured 

 there. He said this at a time when elephant-shooting 

 was a monopoly of traders and the supply was already 

 nearly exhausted. By " exhausted " I mean in this case a 

 reduction to about a thousand heads in the whole district 

 of Kilimanjaro — an immensely vast region, bounded on 

 one side by a line which, beginning at the English 

 boundary, skirts Nguruman, Eyasi Lake, and Umbugwe 

 until it reaches English territory again by way of the 

 Pare Mountains. In this territory there was a supply ot 

 many thousands of elephants some years ago. To-day 

 not more than 250 or 300 elephants could l)e found. 



I am able to state this for a fact with the greatest 

 confidence, and have therefore never been able to under- 

 stand why the insane custom was introduced of compelling 

 the native chiefs, by way of punishment, to deliver a 

 certain amount of ivory to the officials ot the Govern- 

 ment. It would seem almost as though they wished to 

 induce the natives to destroy the tew remaining elephants. 



In South Africa the authorities have since, 1S30 

 succeeded in retaining" some large herds ol eK;|)hants in 

 Cape Colony, in th(* Zit/i Kamma and Ivnysna forests. 

 Should this, then, ])e im])Ossibk; In the case ot natural 

 elei)hant-haunts like the forests of IvIIImanjaro ? 



One must l)ear in mind that tlie largest j)ortion of 



150 



