ELEPHANT HUNTING. 343 



pool of water, and those of our followers who had slung their 

 hammocks beneath the wagons, were partially submerged. 

 High roads had been ploughed through the mire by the pas- 

 sage of elephants, and whole acres of grass, by which we had 

 been surrounded the preceding evening, had been completely 

 trampled down. Soon after sunrise it cleared up, and the 

 cattle having been recovered, we armed a party with hatchets, 

 and proceeded on foot to cut out the teeth of the slain ele- 

 phants ; but walking was exceedingly toilsome, and our feet 

 sinking to the ankles in black mud, were extricated with in- 

 conceivable difficulty. Taking advantage of our situation, an 

 irritated rhinoceros sallied from behind an old stone wall ; 

 and the damp causing three of the guns to miss fire, he was 

 actually among us, when my ball fortunately pierced his eye, 

 and he fell dead at our feet. 



Not an elephant was to be seen on the ground that was 

 yesterday teeming with them ; but on reaching the glen, 

 which had been the scene of our exploits during the early 

 part of the action, a calf, about three feet and a half high, 

 walked forth from a bush, and saluted us with mournful piping 

 notes. We had observed the unhappy little wretch hovering 

 about its mother after she fell, and having probably been 

 unable to overtake the herd, it had passed a dreary night in 

 the wood. Entwining its little proboscis about our legs, the 

 sagacious creature, after demonstrating its delight at our 

 arrival by a thousand ungainly antics, accompanied the party 

 to the body of its dam, which, swollen to an enormous size, 

 was surrounded by an inquest of vultures. Seated in gaunt 

 array, with their shoulders shrugged, these loathsome fowls 

 were waiting its decomposition with forced resignation ; the 

 tough hide having defied all the efforts of their beaks, with 

 which the eyes and softer parts had been vigorously assailed. 

 The conduct of the quaint little calf now became quite affect- 

 ing, and elicited the sympathy of every one. It ran round 

 its mother's corpse with touching demonstrations of grief, 



