52 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



the practical extermination of these animals south 

 of the Zambesi, all but a thing of the past. Here 

 and there, perhaps, in Angola, Portuguese West 

 Africa, a horse can be kept alive and used ; but 

 the bush is terribly thick and thorny, where these 

 animals have their habitat, and it may be doubted 

 whether hunting there on horseback could be often 

 feasible. In Somaliland, where, however, elephant 

 are now becoming distinctly scarce, ponies can be 

 employed. In almost every other part of the 

 African continent the hunter must follow his gigan- 

 tic game on foot. 



At its ordinary gait the African elephant progresses, 

 with singularly noiseless tread, at a good pace. Its 

 shuffling trot is pretty fast, and when the great beast 

 is enraged and makes up its mind to charge, it will 

 not only overtake any man on foot without difficulty, 

 but will for a short distance make it extremely un- 

 pleasant even for a sportsman mounted on a good 

 horse. The charge of an elephant is, as even the most 

 cool and self-reliant hunter is fain to confess, one of 

 the most nerve-shaking experiences that any man can 

 hope to go through. With ears spread out at right 

 angles, like a pair of sails, screaming like a loco- 

 motive, the great pachyderm comes down upon his 

 disturber at thirty miles an hour. There are two 

 things that usually help to preserve the steady sports- 

 man. In the first place, a bullet of heavy calibre, or 

 of sufficient smashing power, will almost certainly 

 suffice to turn the charge, especially if the shot be 

 directed at the chest : even the head shot is often 



