ii2 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH. 



of the elephant making off with the sack of rice, 

 one of my men, Manjora, who is the wag of the 

 party, remarked : 



' Oh, he has taken it away to make a little 

 shamba (garden) for himself in some far-away 

 nook of the forest ! ' and this idea so tickled 

 my men that they made a stock joke of it and, 

 when recalling the affair, its repetition never 

 failed to produce roars of laughter. 



II 

 THE WIZARD ELEPHANT 



Towards the close of 1911, near the Mewalie 

 stream, a tributary of the Luwegu, I met with 

 a most extraordinary experience. 



Just after dawn, as we were on trek through 

 the bush, we chanced upon the spoor of several 

 bull elephants, and after about two hours' track- 

 ing came up with them under a clump of 

 beautiful palms. They were engaged in butting 

 at the trunks of these graceful trees with their 

 heads, making them rock to and fro to shake down 

 the large tough-skinned fruits which they are 

 fond of chewing. As we approached, however, 

 the wind unfortunately gave them our scent, 

 and sent them crashing away at a great pace, 

 but ere they had disappeared, I brought down 



