IV AN UNCOMFORTABLE NIGHT 59 



off his head, and roll it down to a place where the 

 bank shelved, before we could chop out his tusks. 

 By the time Cigar joined me the sun had been down 

 some time. Having no blankets with us, we made a 

 good fire, chopped a tew bushes which we placed in a 

 semicircle behind us, and cutting a little grass to lie 

 upon, at once went to bed. I was tired to death, 

 and soon sank into a dreamless slumber. My sleep 

 had lasted about an hour when I was awakened by 

 heavy drops of rain falling on my face. Getting up, 

 I saw that the sky looked inky black, and that a 

 thunderstorm was fast coming up. Ten minutes 

 later it burst upon us, and to a fine accompaniment 

 of thunder and lightning a perfect deluge of rain 

 came pouring down, and soon extinguished our fire. 



As we were on the slope of a hill the water came 

 rushing down the incline and added to our discomfort. 

 Cold, wet, and miserable, we sat there until day 

 broke. Sometimes I cursed our luck aloud in English, 

 and one of the Kafirs echoed the sentiment in his own 

 language. Otherwise none of us spoke, but endured 

 with silent resignation what we could not avoid. 



During the trip we killed a young elephant bull 

 that the Mashunas or the Banyai had attempted to 

 hamstring by severing the tendo Achillis. Before 

 the introduction of fire-arms, this method of maiming 

 elephants and then killing them with assegais must, 

 I think, have been general in this part of Africa, 

 though it is now but seldom practised. The modus 

 operandi has been described to me as follows : — -A 

 cool and skilful man, armed with a very broad-bladed 

 axe, made for the purpose, with a sharp rough edge, 

 creeps up behind a sleeping elephant and delivers a 

 blow with all his force on the back of the hind foot, 

 about a foot above the ground, endeavouring to sever 



