284 NATURAL HISTORY. 



immense quantity of food, and pass the greater part of the day and night in feeding. Like the 

 Whale in the ocean, the Elephant on land is acquainted with, and roams over, wide and extensive tracts. 

 He is extremely particular in always frequenting the freshest and most verdant districts of the 

 forests, and when one district is parched and barren, he will forsake it for years and wander to great 

 distances in quest of better pasture. 



" The Elephant entertains an extraordinary horror of man, and a child can put a hundred of them 

 to flight by passing at a quarter of a mile to windward ; and when thus disturbed they go a long way 

 before they halt. It is surprising how soon these sagacious animals are aware of the presence of a. 

 hunter in their domains. When one troop has been attacked, all the other Elephants frequenting the 

 district are aware of the fact within two or three days, when they all forsake it, and migrate to dis- 

 tant parts, leaving the hunter no alternative but to inspan his wagons, and remove to fresh ground. 



" This constitutes one of the greatest difficulties which a skilful Elephant-hunter encounters. Even, 

 in the most remote parts, which may be reckoned the head-quarters of the Elephant, it is only occasion- 

 ally, and with inconceivable toil and hardship, that the eye of the hunter is cheered by the sight of one. 

 Owing to habits peculiar to himself, the Elephant is more inaccessible and much more rarely seen than 

 any other game quadruped, excepting certain rare Antelopes. They choose for their resort the most 

 lonely and secluded depths of the forest, generally at a very great distance from the rivers and fountains at 

 which they drink. In dry and warm weather they visit these waters nightly ; but in cool and cloudy- 

 weather they drink only once every third or fourth day. About sundown the Elephant leaves his distant 

 midday haunt, and commences his march towards the fountain, which is probably from twelve to. 

 twenty miles distant. This he generally reaches between the hours of nine and midnight, when,, 

 having slaked his thirst and cooled his body by spouting large volumes of water over his back with his. 

 trunk, he resumes the path to his forest solitudes. Having reached a secluded spot, I have remarked 

 that full-grown bulls lie down on their broadsides about the hour of midnight and sleep for a few hours. 

 The spot which they usually select is an ant-hill, and they lie around it with their backs resting against 

 it. These hills, formed by the white Ants, are from thirty to forty feet in diameter at their base. The 

 mark of the under tusk is always deeply imprinted in the ground, proving that they lie upon their 

 sides. I never remarked that females had thus lain down, and it is only in the more secluded districts. 

 that the bulls adopt this practice ; for I observed that, in districts where the Elephants were liable to- 

 frequent disturbance, they took repose standing on their legs beneath some shady tree. Having slept, 

 they then proceed to feed extensively. Spreading out from one another, and proceeding in a, 

 zigzag course, they smash and destroy all the finest trees in the forest which happen to lie in their 

 course. The number of goodly trees which a herd of bull Elephants will thus destroy is utterly 

 incredible. They are extremely capricious, and on coming to a group of five or six trees they break 

 down, not unfrequently, the whole of them, when, having perhaps only tasted one or two small branches, 

 they pass on and continue their wanton work of destruction. I have repeatedly ridden through forests 

 where the trees thus broken down lay so thick across one another that it was almost impossible to ride- 

 through the district ; and it is in situations such as these that attacking the Elephant is attended with 

 most danger. During the night they will feed in open plains and thickly-wooded districts, but as 

 day dawns, they retire to the densest covers within reach, which nine times in ten are composed of th 

 impracticable wait-a-bit thorns ; and here they remain drawn up in a compact herd during the heat o: 

 the day. In remote districts, however, and in cool weather, I have known herds to continue pasturing; 

 throughout the whole day." 



The African Elephant is not now hunted for domestic purposes, but for the sake of the flesh and 

 of the ivory ; and its death is a grand affair for the natives, since it affords opportunity not merely 

 for a feast, but for obtaining fat for internal and external uses. There are various methods of killing; 

 them. Pitfalls are most common, and are generally placed in the neighbourhood of a drinking-place, 

 the natives showing great skill in felling trees, so as to turn the Elephants into them. According to- 

 Sir Samuel Baker, " the pits are usually about twelve feet long, and three feet broad, by nine deep ; 

 these are artfully made, decreasing towards the bottom to the breadth of a foot. The general 

 Elephant route to the drinking-places being blocked up, the animals are diverted by a treacherous: 

 path towards the water, the roiite intersected by numerous pits, all of which are carefully concealed 

 by sticks and straw, the latter being usually strewn with Elephants' dung, to create a natural effect. 



