HUNTING AND HUNTED IN BELGIAN CONGO 



well as uprooted thorn trees, a sure indication that 

 elephants have passed by a very short time before. 



One well-known hunter says, " the heart is a sure 

 mark, but the effect is not so sudden ; I regard the brain 

 shot as instantly fatal." 



In elephant hunting it is not so much the first-class 

 shot that comes off best, but the man who can at the 

 supreme moment keep cool and act accordingly. 



Elephants, when charging, will come 120-130 yards 

 in ten seconds, and it would be impossible for a man to 

 keep ahead for more than 80 yards : he can save himself 

 by dodging to right or left, or by lying prone on the 

 ground behind a bush or tree without moving a muscle 

 until the danger is past. If it were not for their inferior 

 sight and sense of hearing, elephant hunting would be 

 sheer suicide. 



An elephant was shot at Wadelai some few years 

 since measuring 11 ft. 6 ins. high at the shoulder. 



The elephants in Lado have huge ears that form an 

 acutely pointed triangle. 



As I approached Wadelai on my return, I looked 

 across the Nile to the Uganda bank and was surprised 

 to find that the tent fly under which we had left our 

 stores had disappeared. The natives told me that one 

 night a big " canoe with smoke " had come along, and the 

 next morning the tent was gone. Not a word was said 

 about the storm that had raged on the self-same night 

 over Wadelai, the boat with fire had passed, that was 

 enough for them. Yes, the white man's canoe must 

 have done it. 



I crossed over at once to the Uganda shore, where 1 

 found my two boys living in a grass hut. They told me 

 that the storm had wrecked the tent poles and ropes. 

 Of course I could see that they had not slackened the 

 ropes out when the rain came, and the strain of the 

 shrunken canvas and cordage was so great that one of 



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