138 Wild Life in Central Africa. 



side. With the momentum of his speed he slid for several 

 paces along the ground, making large grooves with the bony 

 parts of his body. I must say I was relieved to see him 

 collapse, and so were the men, who gathered round smiling 

 and making remarks about the way he fell. 



When he came down the ground trembled with the 

 shock, and I thought one of the tusks would be broken, but 

 they were both sound, and eventually weighed close on 3olb. 

 apiece. This elephant belonged to a herd that made 

 a practice of invading the native gardens, and they certainly 

 are more dangerous than elephants that prefer to keep 

 away from human habitations. 



Most of the elephants in Central Africa will not miss an 

 opportunity of a good feed of maize, but they are easily 

 scared off. Others, like the herd this animal belonged to, 

 are left alone^ and lose their fear of man and resent being 

 interfered with. 



While shooting on the west bank of the Luangwa, not 

 very far from Kacumbe's village, which is situated close 

 to the river on the eastern bank, I one day was following 

 a small lot of elephants that had been feeding in a big 

 patch of pumpkins, which they had quite destroyed. There 

 was a good bull in this small herd, and the tracks took me 

 into the higher ground, covered with thick patches of dense 

 thorn bush, through which there were many game paths of 

 elephants and buffaloes. When rounding a bend on one 

 of these paths along which the spoor was leading us we 

 suddenly walked right on to the elephants, which I naturally 

 thought was the herd we were following. It was fearfully 

 hot, they were standing in a dense bunch, and one in the 

 centre towered above the others ; but I could not see 

 his tusks, as two or three others were standing between. 

 Their ears were flapping, and they swayed slightly back- 

 wards and forwards. As only fifteen paces separated us, 

 I had to do something, and, as I could not get the heart 

 shot, I tired behind the skull of the big bull, and then my 

 men and I ran for all we were worth to an anthill on our 

 left. It was just as well that we did, for the elephants 



