168 HUNTING THE ELEPHANT. 



interspersed with streams and occasional patches of 

 forest, in which the destructive labors of the elephant were 

 manifest. Here we descried a large herd of these stately 

 animals leisurely browsing at the head of a distant valley. 

 Carollus was dispatched, to drive the herd back into the 

 valley, up which we rode slowly, and without noise against 

 the wind. 



Arriving within one hundred and fifty yards unperceived, 

 we made our horses fast, and took up a position in an old 

 kraal. Carollus now appeared above them, and by his 

 shouting and firing, drove them towards us. The herd, 

 consisted of ten, all females with large tusks. We selec- 

 ted the finest, and when she came within ten yards, each 

 fired two balls into her, behind the shoulder. She stum- 

 bled, but recovered and uttered a shrill trump of lamen- 

 tation, at the sound of which the rest of the herd clambered 

 up the adjacent heights. Seeing us, the wounded and en- 

 raged cow turned upon us with uplifted trunk, and. we had 

 to put spurs to our horses. But the elephant soon stop- 

 ped, and as I checked my horse I fired a bullet into hex 

 brain, and she tumbled forward dead, striking the earth 

 with a crashing sound. 



Turning around to survey the surrounding scenery we 

 found that a second valley had opened before us, sur- 

 rounded by bare, stony hills, and traversed by a thinly 

 wooded ravine. Here a picture burst upon us, from which 



