298 THE ELEPHANT. 



when woun'ded and hotly pursued, will hide himself 

 behind a tree, and when his unwary pursuer has 

 approached sufficiently near, he will push down the 

 tree with his proboscis, with the object of causing 

 the man's destruction. 



Amral, the chief of the Namaqua Hottentots, 

 told Mr. Galton and myself " that on one occa- 

 sion he and others were in pursuit of a troop of 

 elephants, and at length came to a waggon-track 

 which the animals had crossed. Here the latter, as 

 was seen by their spoor, had come to a halt, and, 

 after carefully examining the ground with their 

 trunks, had formed a circle, in the centre of which 

 the leader had taken up his position. Afterwards, 

 individuals were sent forth to make further investi- 

 gations. The Raad, or debate," the chieftain 

 went on to say, " must have been long and weighty, 

 for they (the elephants) had written much on the 

 ground with their probosces. The result of the 

 council was that to remain longer in the locality 

 would be dangerous, and they therefore came to 

 the unanimous resolution to decamp forthwith. 

 Our attempts to overtake the creatures," Amral 

 went on to say, " were useless, for, though we fol- 

 lowed their tracks until sunset, we saw no more of 

 them." 



The tribe in question, T may add, believe "that 

 if a person shoots at an elephant and fails to kill 

 him, the animal will immediately make for the am- 

 bush, and, should he be unable to catch the enemy, 

 will forthwith destroy all he has left behind him. 

 Not content with this revenge, he will follow, in like 



