HUNTING THE ELEPHANT 169 



them again. As we approached they got wind of us, 

 and away they went. I just had time to spot the 

 wounded one and take a flying head shot at him. This 

 time the aim was true, and down he came in his 

 tracks, and never moved again, while the remainder 

 disappeared into the thick jungle. We were satisfied, 

 for he was a fine beast, and his tusks were fifty-four 

 pounds and fifty-six pounds respectively." 



Captain Prittie, a member of a mission which was 

 sent out to Central Africa in 1907, encountered a herd 

 of two hundred elephants. A vivid account of the 

 incident is given in Major Jack's volume of exploration 

 and sport on the Congo frontier. 1 



It should be explained that toto is a clipped form of 

 the Swahili motto, and means a child or young animal ; 

 also that Simba was Prittie's Swahili gunbearer. 

 " On my way in to Entebbe from Fort Portal I 

 branched off on the third day into the north-west corner 

 of Buddu to look for elephant. I had still one to go 

 on my licence, and' I hoped to get him, though the time 

 was short. The natives reported that a very big herd 

 had been wandering about that district, and there was 

 any amount of fairly fresh spoor. 



I had got within two days of Masaka, and was 

 beginning to give up, when one morning at about 4.30 

 we were stopped by an elephant trumpeting just in 

 front of the safari. 



As day broke a big herd of males, females, and 

 totos filed slowly past us, and moved off into some 

 grassy country with scattered thorn-trees to the south 

 of my path. 



The country there is almost ideal, with none of that 

 1 See Bibliography, 12. 



