166 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH. 



a misrepresentation of facts. Only the very in- 

 experienced hunter could possibly misconstrue this 

 simple defensive action of a wounded animal 

 into a threat of mischief, and I feel sure that 

 many a blind rush to escape the danger at hand, 

 which chanced to come in the direction of the 

 hunter, has been mistaken for a wilful and vicious 

 charge. 



I should like, at this point, to discountenance the 

 assertion made by many writers and believed by the 

 general public at large, that all kinds of African big 

 game especially elephants are being swiftly and 

 surely exterminated. They who make such sweep- 

 ing statements most certainly know little about the 

 subject, and probably draw their conclusions from 

 the insufficient data that they acquire by following 

 the beaten track. In the Congo State, in German 

 East Africa, in Portuguese East Africa, in British 

 East Africa, and in Uganda there are, quite apart 

 from innumerable game reservations, thousands of 

 square miles of quite uninhabited country in which 

 there are hundreds of thousands of elephants and of 

 every other kind of game, with the exception, 

 perhaps, of giraffes. 



Taking into consideration the laws promulgated 

 during the last few years by all civilized countries 

 for the preservation of big game within their 

 African possessions, instead of any risk of exter- 



