716 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



African elephant-hunting. The natives of the south bank of the Zambesi erect stages 

 on high trees overhanging the paths by which the elephants come, and then use a large 

 spear with a handle nearly as thick as a man's wrist, and four or five feet long. When 

 the unfortunate animal comes beneath, they throw the spear, and if it enters between 

 the ribs above, as the blade is at least twenty inches long by two broad, the motion of 

 the handle, as it is aided by knocking against the trees, makes frightful gashes within, 

 and soon causes death. They kill them also by means of a spear inserted in a beam 

 of wood, which being suspended on the branch of a tree by a cord attached to a latch, 

 fastened in the path and intended to be struck by the animal's foot, leads to the fall 

 of the beam, and the spear being poisoned causes death in a few hours. The Bush- 

 men select full-moon nights for the chase, on account of the coolness, and choose the 

 moment succeeding a charge, when the elephant is out of breath, to run in and give 

 him a stab with their long-bladed spears. The huge creature is often bristling with 

 missile weapons like a porcupine, and though singly none of the wounds may be 

 mortal, yet their number overpowers him by loss of blood. On the sloping banks of 

 the Zouga the Bayeiye dig deep pitfalls to entrap the animals as they come to drink ; 

 but though these traps are constructed with all the care of savage ingenuity, old 

 elephants have been known to precede the herd and whisk off their coverings all the 

 way down to the water ; or, giving proof of a still more astonishing sagacity, to have 

 actually lifted the young out of the pits into which they had incautiously stumbled. 



A much more formidable enemy of this noble animal than the spears or pitfalls of 

 the African barbarians is the rifle, particularly in the hands t>f a European marksman ; 

 for while the Griquas, Boers, and Bechuanas generally stand at the distance of a hun- 

 dred yards or more, and of course spend all the force of their bullets on the air, the 

 English hunters, relying on their steadiness of aim, approach to within thirty yards of 

 the animal, where they are sure not to waste their powder. It requires no little nerve 

 to brave the charge of the elephant, the scream or trumpeting of the brute, when 

 infuriated, being more like what the shriek of a steam-whistle would be to a man 

 standing on the dangerous part of a railroad, than any other earthly sound ; a horse 

 unused to it will sometimes stand shivering instead of taking his rider out of danger, 

 or fall paralyzed by fear, and thus expose him to be trodden into a mummy, or, dash- 

 ing against a tree, crack his skull against a branch. 



Even the most experienced hunters have many dangers to encounter while facing 

 their gigantic adversary. Thus, on the banks of the Zouga in 1850, Mr. Oswell had 

 one of the most extraordinary escapes from a wounded elephant perhaps ever recorded 

 in the annals of the chase. Pursuing the brute into the dense thick thorny bushes 

 met with on the margin of that river, and to which the elephant usually flees for 

 safety, he followed through a narrow pathway by lifting up some of the branches, and 

 forcing his way through the rest ; but when he had just got over this difficulty, he saw 

 the elephant, whose tail he had but got glimpses of before, now rushing full speed 

 towards him. There was then no time to lift up the branches, so he tried to force his 

 horse through them. He could not effect a passage, and as there was but an instant 

 between the attempt and failure, the hunter tried to dismount ; but in doing this, one 

 foot was caught by a branch, and the spur drawn along the animal's flank ; this made 

 him spring away, and throw the rider to the ground with his face to the elephant, 

 which, being iu full chase, still went on. Mr. Oswell saw the huge fore foot about to 



