86 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH. 



Another instance of a wilfully vicious attack by 

 an elephant on human beings, came to my know- 

 ledge when I was encamped near the Chiperserie 

 stream, a tributary of the Mbemkuru River. This 

 particular animal was well known to the natives of 

 the neighbourhood, and on account of his decided 

 partiality for the leaves of the tobacco plants 

 which they cultivated in their shambas, they had 

 nicknamed him ' Tombacco.' He had, in his 

 nefarious career, accounted for several natives, and 

 only two months previous to my encountering him, 

 had killed a native woman and her child. The 

 woman in question, with her child tied to her back, 

 was returning to her hut from a visit to a water- 

 hole in the dry bed of the Chiperserie stream, when 

 Tombacco appeared on the scene, drove his tusk 

 through the woman's body, and kneeling on her and 

 her child, crushed them out of existence. 



Tombacco was a most sagacious elephant, and, as 

 soon as he knew that he was being hunted, made for 

 the driest and most inaccessible parts of the country, 

 constantly following the wind in his endeavour to 

 outwit his pursuers. On several occasions I had 

 followed his spoor, but he had always managed to 

 evade me by making for tracts of country devoid of 

 water, from which I was obliged to return in the 

 evening to the water-holes near the dry streams to 

 replenish our supply. Eventually, I tracked him 



