Notable Hunts in 1897 247 



find blood on the foliage. As the wind is unfavour- 

 able and we are sure to be scented, we withdraw after 

 a moment's reflection, and make a long detour to the 

 rear. But all our precautions are wasted, for we dis- 

 cover that the elephant only went into the wood to 

 die. Again, it is a male, but younger than the 

 two others. 



This was, I believe, the only occasion during my 

 long sojourn in the woods, upon which we met with 

 elephants purely by chance. These eleven colossal 

 animals, suddenly emerging in line of battle from the 

 immense forest, was one of the finest sights I have 

 ever enjoyed. It is one of those spectacles which a 

 hunter sees but once in his life, as it was one of the 

 grandest and most imposing manifestations which 

 nature could show him. 



I have two more hunts during 1897 to relate : 

 the first in Moassi's country, west of Lake Nyassa l ; 

 the second in the Urua, part of the Belgian 

 Congo contiguous to Lake Tanganyika. On one 

 occasion, my biggest day with the elephants, 

 I nearly lost Msiambiri ; on the other, I killed the 

 largest elephant I have ever seen. A great many 

 elephants were killed before and after these two 

 hunts, but none amid such remarkable circumstances. 



The day on which I nearly lost Msiambiri, I, my- 

 self, momentarily ran the greatest danger. This was 

 how it happened. We came across a herd of elephants, 

 composed of one large male, an old tuskless female 

 larger than he (probably his mother), two younger 



1 One day's journey from the east bank of the Aroangwa river. 



