CHAP. xii. A JUNGLE TRIP. 319 



right-hand barrel having started the trigger of the 

 left barrel by the concussion. Round wheeled the 

 herd, leaving their three leaders dead ; and now the 

 race began. 



It was a splendid forest, and the elephants rushed 

 off at about ten miles an hour, in such a compact 

 troop that their sterns formed a living barrier, and 

 not a head could be seen. At length, after a burst of 

 about two hundred yards, the deep and dry bed of a 

 torrent formed a trench about ten feet in width. 



Not hesitating at this obstacle, down went the herd 

 without missing a step ; the banks crumbled and half- 

 filled the trench as the leaders scrambled across, and 

 the main body rushed after them at an extraordinary 

 pace. 



I killed a large elephant in the act of crossing ; he 

 rolled into the trench, but struggling to rise, I gave 

 him the other barrel in the nape of the neck, which, 

 breaking his spine, extinguished him. He made a 

 noble bridge, and, jumping upon his carcass, we 

 cleared the ravine, and again the chase continued, 

 rlthough the herd had now gained about thirty 

 aces. 



Upon a fine meadow of grass, about four feet high, 

 the herd now rushed along in a compact mass extend- 

 ing in a broad line of massive hind-quarters over a sur- 

 face of half an acre. This space formed a complete 

 street in their wake, as they levelled everything before 



