22 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



manner, and instances of unprovoked attacks are con- 

 stantly occurring all over Africa, sometimes without 

 success, at others, with fatal issue to the hunter. My 

 friend, Mr. Neergaard, while following a fresh track in 

 Mo9ambique last year, was viciously charged from close 

 quarters by an elephant which he had not molested, and 

 before indeed he had so much as caught a glimpse of 

 the animals which he was following. On this occasion 

 only the coolness of his shooting and a heavy rifle saved 

 his life. 



It is probable that, under modern conditions, elephant 

 hunting is a more dangerous pursuit than formerly. 

 The small bores which are often used have not the stopping 

 power of the old heavy rifles ; but the chief difference 

 lies in the fact that whereas the sportsman of the past 

 was free of the herd, he of the present day is restricted 

 both as regards numbers, and in that he may not shoot 

 females, or males whose tusks are not up to weight. He 

 must therefore, when the covert is dense, often go right 

 among the animals to look for a big bull, and this is a 

 proceeding fraught with considerable risk. 



The habits of elephants, and methods of hunting 

 them, have been so fully discussed by so many com- 

 petent writers that there is little or nothing to be added 

 to what has already been written. They are not naturally 

 strictly forest-loving animals, but, as occurs with so many 

 other species, continued persecution tends to make them 

 more and more seek the shelter and protection of thick 

 covert, and until very recently the herd in the Transvaal 

 Game Reserve never ventured, even at night, beyond the 

 shelter of a certain large area of very dense bush, which 

 had for many years proved their only safe refuge. The 

 tread of the elephant is astonishingly light ; also, until 

 actual experience has been gained, it is difficult to believe 



