264 THE ELEPHANT. 



quitted her shelter in the wood, rushed out to his 

 assistance, walked round and round him, chasing 

 away the assailants, and returning to his side 

 caressed him. Whenever he attempted to walk, 

 she placed her flank, or her shoulder, to his wounded 

 side, and supported him." 



Again, the Bushmen and other natives assert, 

 that the elephant will carry water to a wounded 

 companion who may be at a long distance in the 

 " Weldt," and unable himself to procure that liquid 

 from the fountain. Incredible as this may seem, 

 yet from what my friend, Frederick Green, writes 

 me, there would really appear to be much truth in 

 the story. He says : 



" A case came under my own notice when hunt- 

 ing in the Lake Regions in the year 1851, which 

 tends greatly to corroborate the Bushmen's state- 

 ment. Owing to my ammunition being expended, 

 I had been compelled to leave an elephant that was 

 crippled, besides having eleven wounds in his body, 

 some thirty miles from my waggons. In trying to 

 reach the encampment, I lost my way, and it was 

 not until the following day, after wandering about 

 the whole of the night, that I got there, and that 

 in a very exhausted state. 



" As I felt confident the elephant in question 

 would die of his wounds, one leg being broken, I dis- 

 patched Bushmen after him, instead of going myself; 

 but they, not attending to my commands, remained 

 for two days beside an elephant killed by my after- 

 rider on a previous occasion. It was, therefore, not 

 until the fourth evening after I left this elephant that 



