THE ELEPHANT OF AFRICA. 129 



" Among the mimosa trees sprinkled over the 

 meadows, or lower bottoms, the traces of their 

 operations were not less apparent. Immense 

 numbers of these trees had been torn out of the 

 ground, and placed in an inverted position, in 

 order to enable the animals to browse at their 

 ease on their juicy roots, which form a favourite 

 part of their food. I observed that, in numerous 

 instances, when the trees were of considerable 

 size, the Elephant had employed one of his tusks, 

 exactly as we would use a crow-bar thrusting it 

 under the roots to loosen their hold of the earth, 

 before he attempted to tear them up with his pro- 

 boscis. Many of the larger mimosas had resisted 

 all their efforts ; and, indeed, it is only after heavy 

 rains, when the soil is soft and loose, that they 

 can successfully attempt this operation. 



" While we were admiring these and other indi- 

 cations of the Elephant's strength and sagacity, 

 we suddenly found ourselves, on issuing from a 

 woody defile, in the midst of a numerous herd of 

 those animals. None of them, however, were 

 very close to us ; but they were seen scattered in 

 groups over the bottom and sides of a valley two 

 or three miles in length ; some browsing on the 

 succulent spekboom, which clothed the skirts of 

 the hills on either side ; others at work among the 

 young mimosas and evergreens sprinkled ove 

 I 



