V A DINNER "A LA MODE" 85 



respectively. Those of the one that fell on his knees, 

 though long, were thinner, and weighed 42 lbs, each ; 

 whilst, on examination, the one I shot first proved to 

 have but one tusk (not a very uncommon thing in 

 South Africa, though more often met with amongst 

 the cows than the bulls), which I did not know when 

 I fired at him. This single tusk weighed 53 lbs. 



As there was not time to chop out the teeth of all 

 three elephants and get back to the skerm before 

 nightfall, I resolved to chop out those of the largest, 

 and send my boys back the next day for those of the 

 remaining two. After about an hour anci a half's 

 hard work the tusks were laid on the grass, and after 

 cutting out the heart (the tit-bit in my opinion, 

 though some people prefer the foot or trunk), all the 

 inside fat — which, when rendered down, is nearly as 

 good as butter — and some meat from the thick part 

 of the trunk, we proceeded to make tracks home- 

 wards, reaching the skerm just about sundown ; and 

 I soon had a piece of elephant's heart, nicely salted 

 and peppered, roasting on a forked stick over the 

 coals ; and if I had but had a white companion with 

 whom to talk over the day's sport and fight the battle 

 o'er again, my happiness would have been complete. 



My boys, however, went in for a night of it ; for, 

 after having gorged themselves with fat meat, they 

 commenced dancing, sometimes all at once, some- 

 times one or the other of them performing a pas seul, 

 the rest clapping their hands in time to the measure ; 

 then the whole day's sport was gone through in 

 pantomime ; and all the while they sang wild songs, 

 some extemporaneously in praise of their own and 

 my prowess as hunters, while others were the old 

 standard songs of their country, of which there is a 

 large stock. Altogether it was a wild and interesting 



