PACHYDERMATA. 179 



apprised him of our approach. But when we turned 

 off at a gallop, making a circuit through the bushes 

 to avoid collision with him, he was startled by the 

 sound of our horses' feet, and turned towards us with a 

 very menacing attitude, erecting his enormous ears, 

 and elevating his trunk in the air, as if about to rush 

 upon us. Had he done so, some of us would proba- 

 bly have been destroyed, for the Elephant can run 

 down a well-mounted horseman in a short chase ; and, 

 besides, there was another ugly defile but a little way 

 before us, where the only passage was a difficult pass 

 through the jungle, with a precipice on one side, and 

 a wooded mountain on the other. However, the 

 * gruwzaam karl,' fortunately, did not think proper to 

 give chase, but remained on the same spot, looking 

 steadfastly after us, well pleased, no doubt, to be rid 

 of our company, and satisfied to see his family all safe 

 around him. The latter consisted of two or three 

 females, and as many young ones, that had hastily 

 crowded up behind him from the river margin, as 

 if to claim his protection, when the rushing sound of 

 our cavalcade startled their quiet valley."* 



Captain Harris thinks that the African Elephant 

 could be as easily subjugated as the Indian species, 

 the only reason that it has never been attempted being 

 a prejudice of the colonists against the probability of 

 success. If brought under man's dominion, it would 

 be a valuable ally in the destruction of those formid- 

 able wild beasts that infest Africa, even more than 

 India. That the young are easily captured appears 



* African Sketches. 



