358 



CHAPTER VIII. 



HAMSTRINGING OF ELEPHANTS BY THE CAFFRES BRUCE'S AC- 

 COUNT THE PITFALL USE OF POISONED JAVELINS THE 

 EHINOCEROS, THE ELEPHANT'S ENEMY COMBATS BETWEEN 

 MALE ELEPHANTS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING THE CHASSE IN 

 ABYSSINIA THE AGGAJEERS THEIR MANNER OF KILLING THE 

 ELEPHANT FREEMASONRY AMONG HUNTERS. 



A CCOKDING to Montgomery Martin, " the 

 -HL. Caffres are accustomed to steal behind and 

 hamstring the elephant, after which it is easy for 

 them to dispatch the animal with their assegais ;" and 

 though this statement may be perfectly accurate, 

 yet I do not find it corroborated by any other South 

 African traveller, or sportsman. 



In parts of Abyssinia, however, it is a common 

 practice with certain of the natives (the same spoken 

 of in Chapter IX., page 148), to attack the elephant 

 with the sword alone, and it is thus described by 

 the celebrated Bruce : 



" An hour before daylight, and after a hearty 

 breakfast," says this intrepid and truthful traveller, 

 " we mounted on horseback, to the number of about 

 thirty ; but there was another body, both of horse 

 and foot, who made hunting the elephant their par- 

 ticular business. These men dwell constantly in 



