54 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH. 



selves to be scared from the prospect of a royal 

 feast on elephant meat by any vague mumbo-jumbo 

 concerning the spirit of a departed chieftain, his 

 astute mind took a delightfully ingenious turn. He 

 all at once discovered that he could make a 

 medicine which would set Kom-Kom's spirit to rest 

 on the score of a hearty consumption of its erstwhile 

 earthly home. Some hours afterwards, my boy 

 Tumbo, whom I had brought home with me on 

 this occasion, informed me that the old fellow had 

 begged for a little salt (a scarce commodity in these 

 regions), wherewith to flavour the concoction which 

 was to prove a soothing syrup to Kom-Kom's 

 wounded feelings. Rather curious as to the nature 

 of this elixir, I strolled over to where he was busily 

 engaged in some mysterious operation over a fire. 

 To my surprise, I found that the old humbug, 

 having made the medicine, was now toasting a 

 newly-killed puff-adder on a spit. When he had 

 thoroughly cooked this delicacy, he devoured it and 

 washed it down with copious draughts of an evil- 

 looking brew, which, my boy told me, he had pre- 

 pared by boiling the bark of the mlseravana tree in 

 water and seasoning the mixture with an addition of 

 monkey-nut oil. Next, he anointed himself all over 

 with Kom-Kom's coagulated blood, and while the 

 villagers stood gravely around, solemnly invoked 

 the Mighty One not to be a bad elephant again. 



