Appendix 293 



serve as food for vultures. Finally, in the Darfour, north 

 of Uganda, Arabs or Ethiopians, the " Agageers," hunt the 

 elephant on horseback, and, after forcing it to the top of its 

 speed, hamstring it. Owing to the great difficulty and 

 danger of this form of hunting, they do not destroy many. 

 In short, the whole of humanity is at war with the un- 

 fortunate elephant, myself included. But I am quite 

 willing to lay down my arms if a general truce is pro- 

 claimed, a truce which it is quite time to conclude if we 

 wish to find African elephants elsewhere than in museums. 

 At the rate at which they are being killed at present, not 

 one elephant will remain a hundred and fifty years hence 

 in that part of the world. 



But the elephant will not be annihilated without defend- 

 ing itself. One cannot attack such a gigantic animal 

 with impunity, and accidents are many. Directly or in- 

 directly, several accidents to native hunters have come to 

 my knowledge between 1891 and 1897. As to Europeans, 

 I found in the Upper Zambesi the grave of an Englishman 

 who had been buried by a Portuguese mulatto at the foot of 

 the very tree to which he had been pinned by the animal. 

 On the trunk could still be seen, though the accident 

 happened five or six years before, the deep marks made by 

 its tusks. A worm-eaten wood cross, upon which were 

 some words, partly obliterated, alone recalled the sad story. 

 West of Lake JSTyassa, near the Bua river, another English- 

 man was seized by an elephant, which broke his ribs, both 

 arms, and both legs. Fortunately for the injured man, a 

 European station was near at hand, at Kotakota, and there 

 he was taken in a dying condition. In 1896, Mr. W- , 

 another Englishman, when hunting at Lake Moero, was 

 seized by an elephant, which knelt down twice to pierce 

 him with its tusks, but missed its mark by extraordinary 

 good luck, and only succeeded in ploughing up the earth at 

 the sportsman's side. I myself have narrowly escaped 

 being carried off or trampled upon several times, and, as 



