THE ELEPHANT, THE GIANT OF THE FOREST 



hit through its heart by a spear, or by being shot with poi- 

 soned arrows. 



The Wandorobbo, who once acted as my guide in the 

 Kenia Province, told me of how the rhinos feared the 

 elephants, and how he had once been an eyewitness to a 

 fight between a large rhino and a full-grown, young ele- 

 phant bull. The rhino was a female, which was lying down 

 together with her small calf. Suddenly hearing the noise 

 of the elephant near its " baby," the rhino rushed up to 

 defend its offspring, apparently not knowing what it did. 

 The next moment the elephant had its trunk round the 

 rhino's neck, threw it to the ground and gored it to death 

 in an instant with its powerful tusks. Then he walked off, 

 trumpeting as if triumphing over his victory. Needless 

 to say, the Wandorobbo feasted upon the dead rhino, and 

 even killed the young one, as it returned the next day to 

 look for its mother. 



Most people, including even a good many African 

 hunters, affirm that the elephant never lies down to sleep 

 or rest. Although I had repeatedly heard natives say that 

 they had seen elephants lie down, both on their sides and 

 on their belly, I would not believe it, until so eminent a 

 naturalist and explorer as Dr. Carl Peters himself told 

 me that he had actually tzvice seen elephants, that were not 

 wounded, lying down resting. Another German, the ele- 

 phant hunter Mr. G. Ringler, tells how his own brother 

 was crushed to death by an elephant, which he thought 

 was already dead, when he found it lying motionless on 

 its side, as he had just a moment before shot at a large 

 bull. Mr. Ringler went up to the sleeping monster without 

 hesitation, but as he touched the elephant it started up with 



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