In Wildest Africa ^ 



channels of the hill — the '' Subugo woods" of the 

 Wandorobo hunters. 



Had the elephants not got these places of refuge to 

 fly to they would have died out long ago ! This is the 

 only means by which they are still able to exist in Africa. 

 I feel how difficult It Is to depict accurately the constant 

 warfare that Is going on between man and beast, and 

 can only give others a vague Idea of what It Is like. 

 Many secrets of the life and fate and the speedy annihi- 

 lation of the African elephants will sink Into the grave 

 with the last commercial elephant-hunters. And once 

 again civilisation will have done away with an entire 

 species In the course of a single century. The question 

 as to how far this was necessary will provide ample 

 material for pamphlets and discussions In times to come. 



When one knows the " subugo," however, one under- 

 stands how It has been possible for elephants in South 

 Africa to have held out so long In the Knysna and 

 ZItzIkama forests until European hunters began to go 

 after them with rifles In expert fashion. Fritsch visited 

 the Knysna forests In 1863. *' It Is easy," he says, *' to 

 understand how elephants have managed to remain in 

 their forests for weeks together before one of their number 

 has fallen, even when hundreds of men have been after 

 them. There are spots In these forests — regular Islands 

 completely surrounded by water — where they take refuge, 

 and where no one can get at them." 



Of course, Fritsch speaks of a time when the art of 

 shooting was In Its Infancy. One must not forget that 



536 



