ELEPHANT HUNTING. 335 



open eyes and quivering lips he at length stuttered forth 

 " Dar stands de olifant !" 



Two of our people were immediately dispatched to drive 

 the herd back into the valley, up which we rode slowly and 

 without noise, against the wind ; and arriving within one 

 hundred and fifty yards unperceived, we made our horses 

 fast, and took up a commanding position in an old stone kraal. 

 The shouting of the savages, who now appeared on the height, 

 rattling their shields, caused the animals to move unsuspi- 

 ciously towards us, and even within ten yards of our ambush. 

 The group consisted of nine, all females, with large tusks. 

 We selected the finest, and with perfect deliberation, fired a 

 volley of five balls into her. She stumbled, but recovering 

 herself, uttered a shrill note of lamentation, when the whole 

 party threw their trunks above their heads, and instantly 

 clambered up the adjacent hill with incredible celerity, their 

 huge fan-like ears flapping in the ratio of their speed. We 

 instantly mounted our horses, and the sharp loose stones 

 not suiting the feet of the wounded lady, soon closed with 

 her. Streaming with blood, and infuriated with rage, she 

 turned upon us with uplifted trunk, and it was not until after 

 repeated discharges that a ball took effect in her brain, and 

 threw her lifeless upon the earth, which resounded with the 

 fall. Turning our attention from the exciting scene we have 

 described, we found that a second valley had opened before 

 us, surrounded by bare strong hills, and traversed by a thinly- 

 wooded ravine. Here a grand and magnificent panorama was 

 before us, which beggars all description. The whole face 

 of the landscape was actually covered with wild elephants. 

 There could not have been fewer than three hundred within 

 the scope of our vision. Every height and green knoll was 

 dotted over with groups of them, "whilst the bottom of the 

 glen exhibited a dense and sable living mass their colossal 

 forms being at one moment partially concealed by the trees, 

 which they were disfiguring with great strength ; and at others 



