Wambuba Cannibals 



at a place like Api in the Uele district of the Belgian Congo, 

 where the Government have an elephant farm and thirty-six 

 tame African elephants trained to do various work, such 

 as ploughing, hauhng and lifting. 



The elephants that I found in this remote corner of the 

 Wambuba country were the tamest I have ever known ; 

 as Serimani has told me, " they had forgotten the sound 

 of a gun if they had ever heard one," and the taint of man 

 on the air disturbed them not at all. They owned the country 

 here right enough, as the natives knew to their cost in rifled 

 and broken banana groves and smashed huts ; they would 

 get out of the way for nobody and even after I had killed 

 two of their number and wounded a third, the others moved 

 on a few hundred yards only and began feeding again. How- 

 ever there was one thing that did disturb them, for unlike 

 all the antelope species whose degree of intelligence will 

 not enable them to connect the smell of blood with danger 

 to themselves, the elephant realises it perfectly well, so the 

 following day's orgie saw the last of the retreating herds 

 topping the rise in the far distance. 



As there were many cows and calves and but few good 

 bulls amongst the herds, I had an exciting day's chase after 

 the two elephants I eventually bagged. To go into the details 

 of the hunt is unnecessary and would doubtless bore the 

 indulgent reader, as such descriptions have lost their novelty 

 in these days, and moreover, for those who are interested, 

 I have added a chapter on elephants and their ways at the 

 end of this volume. 



As I wended my way home to camp after the day's 

 sport, I passed many more elephants quite undisturbed by 

 the sound of my rifle and still unconscious of any danger. 



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