chatv xii A JUNGLE TRIP. 313 



Dec. 1. — The scouts were sent out at daybreak. 

 At two o'clock P.M. they returned : they had found 

 elephants, but they were four miles from the tent, and 

 two men had been left to watch them. 



Upon questioning them as to their position, we dis- 

 covered that they were in total ignorance of the 

 number in the herd, as they had merely heard them 

 roaring in the distance. They could not approach 

 nearer, as a notoriously vicious rogue elephant was 

 consorting with the herd. This elephant was well 

 known to the natives from a peculiarity in having only 

 one tusk, which was about eighteen inches long. 



In November and December elephant-shooting re- 

 quires more than ordinary caution at the ' Park,' as the 

 rogue elephants, who are always bulls, are in the habit 

 of attending upon the herds. The danger lies in their 

 cunning. They are seldom seen in the herd itself, but 

 they are generally within a few hundred paces ; and 

 just as the guns may have been discharged at the herd, 

 the rogue will, perhaps, appear in full charge from his 

 ambush. This is exquisitely dangerous, and is the 

 manner in which I was caught near this spot in 1850. 



Banda was very anxious that this rogue should be 

 killed before we attacked the herd, and he begged me 

 to give him a shoulder-shot with the four-ounce rifle, 

 while Wortley and Palliser were to fire at his head ! 

 A shot through the shoulder with the heavy rifle would 

 be certain death, although he might not drop immedi- 



