NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



from experience that they race away in the extremity 

 of fear when an Elephant puts in an appearance. 



Mr. Oswald Smith was surveying out at Addo, 

 and after the day's work the instruments were locked 

 up in a stout little hut for the night. Returning 

 the following morning he discovered the Elephants 

 had been stamping round the hut, and had made 

 desperate efforts to demolish it. Mr. Smith is 

 assured the Elephants in passing got a whiff of the 

 typical " Kafir odour," and locating it in the hut, 

 they tried to get at their despised but hated enemy. 

 The odour emanated from the instruments which 

 Mr. Smith's native always carried. 



These Elephants are very erratic in their behaviour 

 under given circumstances. When shot at they will 

 sometimes instantly charge in the direction of the 

 smoke, and at other times they stampede in wild 

 alarm. In the Addo Bush there are three herds 

 known to exist. Each herd numbers about thirty 

 individuals. 



The farmers in the neighbourhood of the Addo 

 Bush complain bitterly of the danger to life and the 

 damage wrought by these Elephants, and demand 

 their extermination. The late Captain McQueen, 

 the African explorer, was commissioned by Govern- 

 ment to make a report on this vexed subject. He 

 reported that the Elephants broke out of the Addo 

 Bush and invaded the neighbouring farms only when 

 mad with thirst, and that if a sufficiency of water 

 was provided in their haunts they would not break 

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