66 THE OUT-STATION ; OR, 



He is personally acquainted with every herd of 

 elephants encamped within a dozen of miles of us at 

 that moment. 



They, unsuspecting innocents, little dream of the 

 treacherous part he acts towards them, or that slender 

 willow wand would not so easily effect a lane through 

 the centre of a herd for him to pass on his course. 



But he has no fear, never having heen harmed or 

 attacked by an elephant in his life, although he has 

 lived all his days in the very centre of their haunts ; 

 and whilst he enjoys the sport of seeing them shot, 

 I doubt not but he is not a little astonished and amused 

 at all the pomp and circumstance attending their 

 destruction at the hands of the "white man." 



Formerly, an elephant -finder's services might have 

 been dispensed with, but so numerous and frequent 

 have been the invading parties on this territory, 

 engaged in that animal's destruction, that they have 

 in a great measure been scared away from the plain 

 to the denser parts of the jungle. 



We are forthwith put in possession of a statisti- 

 cal account of the enemy, the exact spot each herd at 

 that moment is in possession of, the length of time 

 they have been there, and the advantages of the 

 locality for our taking up a good position. 



If there is a tusker among any of the numerous 

 herds in the vicinity, the old man is entitled to a con- 

 siderable addition of good things from the lucky fellow 

 who brings him down. There being only about one 



