170 COLONEL ROOSEVELT A REMARKABLE HUNTER. 



were able to make out the backs of the elephants through the tower- 

 ing reeds. Roosevelt's elephant gun, firing explosive shells, was in 

 the camp. Selous advised him in aiming and he sent half a dozen 

 bullets into the "tusker." 



The elephant charged the fire, and went down on its knees close 

 to the tree. Then at a distance of about forty feet Roosevelt struck 

 the heart, and it went over dead. The rest of the herd tore wildly 

 throdgh the thicket in retreat. Kermit trying several shots, but 

 without effect. The baby elephant was captured an hour afterward 

 by the natives in Roosevelt's caravan. 



MOST INVISIBLE OF FOREST CREATURES. 



The African elephant is spread over a very wide range of 

 country, extending from Senegal and Abyssinia to the borders of 

 the Cape Colony. Several conditions are required for its existence, 

 such as water, dense forests, and the absence of human habitations. 



Although it is very abundant in the locality which it inhabits, 

 it is not often seen by casual travelers, owing to its great vigilance 

 and its wonderful power of moving through the tangled forests 

 without noise and without causing any perceptible agitation of the 

 foliage. 



In spite of its enormous diniensions, it is one of the most invis- 

 ible of forest creatures, and a herd of elephants, of eight or nine 

 feet in height, may stand within a few feet of a hunter without being 

 detected by him, even though he is aware of their presence. At a 

 certain season of the year these animals are seized with a ferocity 

 which renders them intractable, and formidable. 



Camp was broken the following day and Col. Roosevelt and his 

 party began their march of fifty miles northeast to the Ju Ja ranch 

 of William McMillan, a nephew of former United States Senator 

 McMillan, of Michigan. The Roosevelt party was the guests of 

 Mr. McMillan, hunting daily in the vicinity of the ranch. 



Years ago Mr. McMillan went to British East Africa in search 

 of big game and was so well pleased with the country that he 

 acquired an imm?.nse reservation for his private use. He has also 



