126 THE ELEPHANT OF AFRICA. 



and Camel in the northern regions; neither do 

 any of the late travellers in Northern Africa men- 

 tion them as being domesticated. It is attacked 

 only as a sport or amusement, or as a matter of 

 emolument. Our task will, therefore, only be to 

 recount one or two of those dangerous adventures 

 which so well portray the coolness and dexterity 

 of the Hottentot, and others which may throw 

 some Kght on the habits or dispositions of the 

 animal. 



The African Elephant not being of such bulky 

 proportions as that of India, the risk of attacking it, 

 or the difficulty of its destruction, is not thought 

 more of than the hunting of the Lion or the Tiger in 

 India. Colonel Williamson, a person of experience 

 in these matters, however, is of a different opinion, 

 and thinks, that neither " natives nor Europeans 

 would undertake such a piece of rashness as to go 

 out shooting wild Elephants.** In Africa it is 

 different, and all the three huge African animals 

 are not only shot, but also speared by the naked 

 Hottentot, who trusts to his agility only for his 

 escape.* The encounters are certainly sometimes 

 fatal to the aggressor, and dreadful then is tlie 

 deed of retaliation and revenge. We shall 

 transcribe one of Pringle's African sketches, 



* Pringle speaks of one of the settlers at Enon lying 

 concealed among the forest wood, and shooting the ,Ele- 

 phnnts as they passed down the glen at mid-day. 



