24 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



It is extraordinary how soon the mind accustoms i*/. 

 self to every thing, good or bad. There I sat taking 

 my breakfast, with a troop of princely elephants feed- 

 ing v/ithin a few minutes' ride of me, with as much in- 

 difference as if I were going woodcock shooting. 1 cer- 

 tainly did not feel half so anxious about the matter as 

 I usually did when taking my breakfast on a fine May 

 morning, with a southerly wind, before starting to fish 

 my native river. This indifference was probably ow- 

 ing to the reduced state of my system from improper 

 diet and constant toil. 



When the Bakalahari returned with the dogs and 

 horses, they reported fresh spoor of bull elephants by 

 the fountain ; and at the same moment another party, 

 whom Mutohuisho had dispatched in the direction of 

 ihe cry, returned to say that it was a herd of bulls 

 which we had heard that morning. This was very 

 pleasing intelligence, for I had fancied that the ele- 

 phants must be a troop of cows, w^hose traces we had 

 observed on the preceding evening. Every thing being 

 ready, we made for the elephants, and, as we approach- 

 ed them, an old bull rhinoceros was detected standing 

 within forty yards, which, as if aware that I dared not 

 fire on him, kept trotting along the path before me. 

 We discovered the elephants quietly browsing on very 

 unfavorable ground, the greater part of the forest con- 

 sisting of the ever-recurring wait-a-bits. The troop was 

 composed of three old bulls, two of which carried stumpy 

 and broken tusks. 



On the evening of the 20th, after bowling over an- 

 other elephant with a splendid pair of tusks, I returned 

 to camp, where, to my utter horror, I found my favor- 

 ite Colesberg dangerously ill. Guessing that it was 

 the distemper, I had him up instantly and bled him 



