62 Wild Life in Central Africa. 



given me a better chance to shoot him, as his tusks were 

 much finer than this elephant's, and, moreover, he had two 

 perfect ones. 



The elephant was left untended that night, and early next 

 morning I changed my camp to the carcass, as there was 

 water in the big dambo near. 



In the night the hyaenas had arrived on the scene and 

 eaten about half the trunk, and they must have been very 

 pleased to find such a quantity of fine meat waiting to be 

 devoured. Before pitching the tent I took care to get to 

 the windward side of the elephant, as I knew from past 

 experience that there would soon be a strong aroma about ; 

 but at this time of year the wind is very changeable, as the 

 great heat causes eddies in the air, so I could not get away 

 from the stench, which kept coming round at every slight 

 change of the wind. 



The first thing I did was to make a large grass fence 

 round the carcass, which gained me another native name, as 

 the natives immediately christened me " Kampanda," the 

 fence-maker. I also made a rough covering over the tent, 

 and it was about 3 p.m. when all this work was completed, 

 at which we had all worked hard. Then I got men on to 

 the work of chopping out the tusks, while others began to 

 hack up the body. 



Before I had any experience of strong animal smells, 

 the worst effluvia I can remember was that of the whalers 

 which used to return to Dundee from the Arctic regions, 

 and they certainly had a strong smell, but nothing compared 

 to a putrefying elephant under a tropical sun. However, 

 one can become accustomed almost to anything in this 

 world. I once shot three hippo in the Lupata Gorge of 

 the Zambesi River and carried most of the skin to Chinde 

 under some boxes, and elephant tusks wrapped in canvas. 



This skin got wet in the bilge water, and what with the 

 dampness and heat it putrefied rapidly, and when I got to 

 Chinde the people there informed me I was polluting the 

 atmosphere, so I sent the skin to a sandbank some distance 

 away, and it was given to the fishes. When my elephant 



