58 Wild Life in Central Africa. 



steamy and hot. This was a piece of good luck, as 

 I had given up hopes of seeing any spoor on this day, 

 and I had no idea I should have the good fortune to 

 find absolutely fresh tracks. Both Kamwendo and myself 

 knew that we would soon see this elephant, for he had been 

 moving slowly along, feeding occasionally, and he was 

 bound to rest soon, as the sun was intensely hot, and 

 elephants, like human beings, prefer to slow off a bit about 

 midday in tropical Africa. 



The men were told to wait, and Kamwendo carried 

 the '400 with strict injunctions that he was not to fire 

 unless I told him to, a thing I have never yet asked a 

 native to do. 



Then we walked along steadily, and in about ten 

 minutes saw the elephant standing on the opposite side of 

 a large dambo in some long grass. On our side the grass 

 had all been burned by the natives, but the fire had not 

 touched the opposite side, which was annoying. The 

 elephant looked huge as he stood flapping his ears against 

 his sides, and every now and again blowing dust over 

 his body with his trunk. As we were crossing the open to 

 reach an anthill not far from the elephant, he began to 

 move slowly into the tree bush near, stopping here and 

 there to pick a few leaves from the trees. 



As the grass was very long among the trees and I knew 

 it would be difficult to see him from the ground when 

 enveloped in the grass, I moved to another anthill farther 

 on and just ahead of the elephant. He then began to ram 

 a tree with his forehead, and he seemed to have something 

 wrong with him, as he was never still a moment. 



I changed ground again to yet another anthill, and it 

 was fortunate I did so, as the elephant began to move to 

 an open space about 100 yards from me. As he was busy 

 picking some leaves, I took a steady aim for his brain and 

 fired. 



Instead of dropping in his tracks, as I had hoped, he 

 gave one or two painful grunts and dashed past me, 

 getting the four remaining shots in the magazine as he 



