loO THE ELEPHANT OF AFRICA. 



the meadows. As we proceeded cautiously 

 onward, some of these groups, came more dis- 

 tinctly into view consisting apparently, in many 

 instances, of separate families, the male, the 

 female, and the young of different sizes ; and the 

 gigantic magnitude of the chief leaders became 

 more and more striking. The calm and stately 

 tranquillity of their deportment, too, was remark- 

 able. Though we were a band of about a dozen 

 horsemen, including our Hottentot attendants, 

 they seemed either not to observe, or altogether 

 to disregard, our march down the valley." 



" As we rode leisurely along through a meadow 

 thickly studded over with clumps of tall ever- 

 greens, I observed something moving over the 

 top of a bush close a-head of us, and had just time 

 to say to the gentleman next me < Look out 

 there ! when we turned the corner of the bush, 

 and beheld an enormous male Elephant standing 

 right in the path within less than a hundred paces 

 distance. We halted and surveyed him for a few 

 minutes in silent admiration and astonishment, 

 He was, indeed, a mighty and magnificent crea- 

 ture. The two engineer officers, who were 

 familiar with the appearance of the Elephant in 

 his wild state, agreed that the animal before us 

 was at least fourteen feet in height ; and our 

 Hottentots, in their broken Dutch, whispered that 

 he was ( een groot gruwzaam karl bania\ lania? 



