LABORIOUS WORK. 321 



notwithstanding the serious wound the animal had 

 received, he cost us many hours hard walking and 

 running, much dodging, great suffering from thirst, 

 and exposure to many perils, before we finally suc- 

 ceeded in bringing him down. 



At length, therefore, my presentiment was ful- 

 filled to the letter ; but the excitement and exertion 

 of the hunt had been too much for me. The very 

 next morning, indeed, I was delirious, and months 

 elapsed before I could again shoulder my rifle. 



As will be seen from the above, elephant-hunting 

 on foot, and in the hot season, is most laborious 

 and harassing work. Indeed, a long experience of 

 this pursuit has brought me to the conviction that, 

 under such circumstances, it is far more trying and 

 distressing to the constitution than the most severe 

 manual labour. It was rarely, or never, that I 

 could track, stalk, and kill my elephant, and return 

 to camp, in less than ten hours ; more frequently 

 I was absent from it for fourteen, or sixteen, 

 hours. Nay, I have been as much as two days and 

 a ni^ht en^a^ed in a single hunt. Mv attendants 



o o o 



(natives) were, at times, so completely done up, 

 I myself being in general nearly as much so, that, 

 on their return to the bivouac, they would fall 

 asleep where they stood, alike indifferent to hunger, 

 to the chilling night-air, or to the scorching rays of 

 the sun, as the case might be. For my own part, 

 when fairly beaten, nothing could restore me to 

 myself but quiet, a plentiful supply of cool water, 

 and, above all, a good wash. 



It was not, however, hunger or fatigue that was 



Y 



