Tuskless Elephants. 139 



ran at once, and one actually went between us and the 

 anthill, but passed on. 



Then several shrill screams vibrated through the air, and 

 we saw a cow approaching us, accompanied by a small 

 calf. I saw this cow was tuskless, and, as I did not wish 

 to shoot her, as it is against the regulations to shoot cows 

 (at least, it was at that time), I waited. After screaming, 

 she rushed off, and I was very glad she did so. I now saw 

 the bull getting up speed, for my first bullet had missed 

 the brain and only dazed him. My men said : " Do not 

 shoot him, Bwana, for he is a 'nungwa' " (tuskless elephant), 

 so I let him go. An elephant shot in the head, unless the 

 brain is touched, never sustains much damage, especially 

 from a small bore. Every elephant in this small herd of 

 nine or ten was tuskless, as far as I could see, which was 

 rather extraordinary, but which is a fact, nevertheless. On 

 examining the ground further on, we found that this was 

 not the herd we were following, but another herd, which 

 had come from a different direction, and, on taking up the 

 spoor, we found where the first lot had been standing 

 before they bolted on hearing my shot. This shot also 

 disturbed a few buffalo that had been resting among the 

 thorn scrub, and I caught a glimpse of them running aw r ay 

 after I fired as they went off with a crash. These thorn 

 patches are nasty places to follow elephants in, for, except 

 on their paths, it is difficult to move quickly in the thicker 

 parts, and the elephants seem to look on such places as 

 refuges or sanctuaries. The natives told me that elephants 

 are very " okali " (fierce) when disturbed in these places, 

 and, judging from my experience, this seems to be the case. 



The natives living near the Luangwa here were much 

 troubled by hippos, which invaded their crops and 

 did almost as much damage as the elephants, so on 

 November 9, 1908, as I had failed to get a shot at some 

 elephants I had spoored, I spent the rest of the day in 

 shooting hippo. This is the account from my diary : 



Up before sunrise and got away just as the sun appeared 

 in the East, and soon after leaving the village (Kanunta's) 



