ELEPHANT SHOOTING. 161 



half a mile to the north we could see another troop of 

 cows. I wished to attack these, but the natives pre- 

 vailed upon me to attack the nearest troop. Leaving 

 the greater part of the natives to watch our movements 

 from this elevated position, I descended the hill and 

 held for the mighty game. I felt rather nervous on this 

 occasion. I was not in good health, and the forest here 

 was not well adapted for the sport, the cover being 

 thick, with a great deal of bad wait-a-bit thorns. When 

 we came upon the troop they were considerably scat- 

 tered, and we first approached two very indifferent 

 cows, which, hearing us, instantly retreated into the 

 thick cover. I would not follow these, but at once slip- 

 ped my dogs in the hope that they would find me better 

 elephants. The dogs then ran forward in different di- 

 rections, and immediately a loud trumpeting followed 

 from three detachments of cows. Galloping forward, 

 I obtained a view of them all. There was but one 

 right good cow in the troop: she brought up the rear 

 of a detachment which came crashing past on my right, 

 making for the densest cover round the base of the hill. 

 This cow carried two fine long white tusks, one of them 

 with a very fine sharp point. On attacking her she at 

 once separated from her comrades, and every one of 

 my dogs took, as is usual, away after the calves. I 

 galloped up alongside and very near this cow, and, firing 

 from the saddle, bowled her over with a single ball be- 

 hind the shoulder. 



On the 11th we marched at dawn of day, holding 

 northeast, and halted on the bank of the Limpopo. 

 There the wagons remained, while I hunted tJK; banivs 

 of the river, bagging two first-rate bull elephants and 

 one hippopotamus. One of these elephants I shot across 

 the Limpopo, under the mountains of Guapa. I fought 



