178 VERTEBRATA. MAMMALIA. 



rently, in many instances, of separate families, the 

 male, the female, and the young of different sizes ; 

 and the gigantic magnitude of the chief leaders be- 

 came more and more striking. The calm and stately 

 tranquillity of their deportment, too, was remarkable. 

 Though we were a band of about a dozen horsemen, 

 including our Hottentot attendants, they seemed 

 either not to observe, or altogether to disregard, our 

 inarch down the valley. 



" As we rode leisurely along, through a meadow 

 thickly studded over with clumps of tall evergreens, 

 I observed something moving over the top of a bush 

 close ahead of us, and had just time to say to the 

 gentleman next me, ' Look out there ! ' when we 

 turned the corner of the bush, and beheld an enor- 

 mous male Elephant standing right in the path, with- 

 in less than a hundred paces' distance. We halted, 

 and surveyed him for a few minutes in silent admi- 

 ration and astonishment. He was, indeed, a mighty 

 and magnificent creature. The two engineer officers, 

 who were familiar with the appearance of the Ele- 

 phant in his wild state, agreed that the animal before 

 us was, at least, fourteen feet in height, and our Hot- 

 tentots, in their broken Dutch, whispered that he 

 was ' een groot gruwzaam karl, bania', bania' groot ! ' 

 or, as one of them translated it, * a hugeous, terri- 

 ble fellow, plenty, plenty big ! ' 



" The Elephant, at first, did not seem to notice us, 

 for the vision of the animal is not very acute, and, 

 the wind being pretty brisk, and we to the leeward 

 of him, his scent and hearing, though keen, had not 



