178 THE GAME OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



passing right over them and have yet escaped unhurt, when but one second of 

 pressure beneath one of the four feet would have meant instant death. Other 

 sportsmen have been less lucky ; of these some have been torn limb from limb ; 

 many have been speared through the lungs or head by a tusk or crushed to death 

 by the weight of the animal, and, again, many more have been caught up by the 

 animal's trunk and had their brains dashed out against trees, or their arms or legs 

 broken. 



So one of the charms of elephant-shooting may safely be said to be due to 

 the danger run. Another is the hard work and constant disappointments involved, 

 for elephants travel immense distances, especially during the night, and have 

 generally to be tracked for miles before one comes up with them, whilst many more 

 miles are covered looking for spoor. A day of hard going from before sunrise 

 till after sunset is quite an everyday event with the elephant-hunter, and, moreover, 

 often leaves him at the end of the day hungry, tired, foodless, tentless, and 

 disappointed. 



Next comes the pleasure of tracking an elephant. Although the actual tracking 

 is not so hard or difficult as that entailed by spooring up many other animals, it yet 

 offers many subtle and interesting points not met with when following other game. 

 Elephant country is generally a mass of tracks of all ages, and to pick out the 

 track you wish to follow from amongst all the others is a very difficult matter, more 

 especially when the grass is dry. A very common experience in elephant-hunting is 

 to find the tracks of one or more large-sized bulls, which, when followed up, lead 

 into the spoor of an enormous herd of females and young. The herd will have 

 passed over the same spot as the bulls either an hour or two before or an hour or 

 two after them. All the tracks are so inextricably mixed up together that, if it is in 

 difficult country, it is practically impossible to find the spot at which the track of 

 the bulls leaves those of the herd again ; for there are but a few bulls, whilst 

 the herd numbers perhaps several hundred, and their spoors cover the countryside. 



Another of the charms of elephant-hunting is the excitement of having to 

 be constantly on the look-out, and also listening and smelling for the animals. 

 Elephants are nearly always found in forest, thick bush, or long elephant-grass. 

 In places where they cannot get grass-food they will occasionally wander out on to 

 the open plains, though more usually at night than in the day. They are essentially 

 forest and bush animals, and in such localities amply make up to the sportsman for 

 the deficiency of other game. In the forest the best way to hunt them is to 

 pitch your main camp either outside the forest or at some place in it where there 

 are paths or beaten tracks, and then to send out natives in all directions to look 



