CHAP. iv. ELEPHANT. 210 



it is being ridden, and it is only when it is turned out to 

 graze or to stand about that much danger is incurred. 

 So the question arises, Why is the night air fatal only 

 under one set of circumstances, and not so in another, 

 although it must equally be breathed in either case ? In 

 some districts the grass is considered to be the cause, as 

 in them, unless the horse has actually been grazing, it 

 never dies, while in others, its merely being tied up outside 

 during the night is almost sure to prove fatal. It is 

 curious, however, that whatever the seeming cause, the 

 symptoms remain the same, merely differing in their 

 greater or less intensity, congestion of the lungs appearing 

 to be the immediate cause of death. No treatment avails, 

 unless exceptionally, and then it is doubtful whether the 

 horse would not have recovered in any case. Prevention, 

 possible enough to the colonist, is utterly impossible to 

 the hunter, the very use to which he puts his horse 

 necessarily bringing it into the most deadly districts; 

 the night air, the dew, and something eaten in living or 

 freshly cut grass are among the surest producing causes, 

 and it is palpable that the hunter's horse must of neces- 

 sity be exposed to every one of them. 



Perhaps one of the greatest attractions of watching 

 water-holes by night in an elephant country is to see these 

 enormous denizens of the forest approach, marching up 

 in single file, terrifying all the smaller animals by their 

 heavy tread, and wading into the deepest spot, stand 

 there for hours, occasionally cooling themselves by throw- 

 ing water over their bodies. They come vast distances to 

 water, and if there only happens to be one spot containing 

 it in the neighbourhood, and they entertain any suspicion 



