X A TROOP OF BULL ELEPHANTS 203 



during the afternoon a troop of ten bull elephants 

 had come out of the jungle on the other island at a 

 point about 200 yards off, and after drinking and 

 walking along the shore for a short distance again 

 entered the bush. Fancy elephants in this age so 

 little disturbed as to drink in the daytime, and what 

 a glorious sight it must have been to see these 

 gigantic animals walking in the open with their slow 

 majestic step. But now I feared they must have 

 heard the shots I had just fired, yet as the natives 

 assured me that a gun had never before been fired 

 on these islands, I still had hopes that, not knowing 

 what it was, they might not have taken alarm, and 

 in effect hearing one trumpet at no great distance 

 soon after dark I felt sure that such was really the 

 case, and had it not been for the mosquitoes, should 

 have felt perfectly happy and contented. 



