358 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



ments had not been trampled on." There is little 

 doubt that the infuriated elephant must have pressed 

 the unfortunate man down with his foot or knee, and 

 then twisting his trunk round his body wrenched him 

 asunder. This feat gives one an idea of the awful 

 strength of these huge beasts, and how powerless the 

 strongest of men — even one of " Ouida's " heroes — 

 would be, when once in their clutches. 



By examining the spoor Clarkson found that when 

 this elephant charged, Quabeet was following another 

 — doubtless the one he had first wounded — and 

 thinks that in all probability the poor fellow never 

 saw the brute until it was close upon him ; and this, 

 T think, must have been the case, as it is astonishing 

 how difficult it is to see an elephant when he is 

 standing still amongst high and thick bush, especially 

 if one's attention is engaged with something else. 



Poor Quabeet ! I knew him well, and a real good 

 fellow he was. A Zulu by blood, he was born just 

 before Umziligazi left Natal on his flight northwards, 

 and was still quite a boy when he came to the 

 Matabele country. In the rebellion of 1870, when 

 the kraals of " Zwang Indaba " and " Induba " 

 fought for Kuruman against the present king Eo- 

 bengula, he took part with the rebels, and received 

 several assegai wounds during the fierce hand-to- 

 hand combat that ended in the defeat of his party. 

 Requiescat in pace. 



The day after I rejoined my friends we all rode 

 out to look for elephant spoor, directing our course 

 towards the " Hill of the Stump-tailed Bull," a large 

 round mount which stands by itself, close to the 

 junction of the Umbila and Umfule rivers, and 

 forms a conspicuous landmark. On the summit of 

 this hill, Wood told us, the veteran hunter Mr. 



