iv THE ELEPHANT 73 



and daring on the part of the hunters, most of whom eventually 

 fall victims to their gallantry. 



I was accompanied by these splendid sword -hunters of the 

 Hamran Arabs in 1861 during my exploration of the Nile tribu- 

 taries of Abyssinia ; and upon the first occasion that I was intro- 

 duced to an African male elephant, the animal was standing at the 

 point of a long sandbank which had during high water formed the 

 bed of the river, where a sudden bend had hollowed out the inner 

 side of the curve and thrown up a vast mass of sand upon the 

 opposite shore. This bank was a succession of terraces, each about 

 4 feet high, formed at intervals during the changes in the level of 

 the retreating stream. The elephant was standing partly in the 

 water drinking, and quite 100 yards from the forest upon the bank. 

 The huge dark mass upon the glaring surface of white sand stood 

 out in bold relief and exhibited to perfection the form and pro- 

 portions of the animal ; but it was so unlike the Indian elephant 

 of my long experience that I imagined some accident must have 

 caused a deformity of the back, which was deeply hollowed, instead 

 of being convex like the Asiatic species. I whispered this to my 

 hunters, who did not seem to understand the remark ; and they 

 immediately dismounted, exclaiming that the loose sand was too 

 deep for their horses, and they preferred to be on foot. 



It was difficult to approach this elephant, as there was no cover 

 whatever upon the large area of barren sand ; the only method was 

 to keep close to the level of the water below the terraces, as the 

 head of the animal was partially turned away from us whilst 

 drinking. I had a very ponderous single rifle weighing 22 Ibs., 

 which carried a conical shell of half a pound, with a charge of 16 

 drams of powder. The sand was so deep that any active movement 

 would have been impossible with the load of so heavy a weapon ; 

 I therefore determined to take a shoulder shot should I be able to 

 arrive unperceived within 50 yards. Stooping as low as possible, 

 and occasionally lying down as the ever -swinging head moved 

 towards us, we at length arrived at the spot which I had determined 

 upon for the fatal shot. Just at that moment the elephant per- 

 ceived us, but before he had made up his mind, I fired behind the 

 shoulder, and as the smoke cleared, I distinctly saw the bullet-hole, 

 with blood flowing from the wound. I think the elephant would 

 have charged, but without a moment's hesitation my gallant Ham- 

 rans rushed towards him sword in hand in the hope of slashing 

 his hamstring before he could reach the forest. This unexpected 

 and determined onset decided the elephant to retreat, which he 

 accomplished at such a pace, owing to the large surface of his feet 



