284 MAMMALIA-ELEPHANT. 



caparisoned, and covered with the richest stuffs. On comparing the rela- 

 tions of travellers and historians, it appears that elephants are more 

 numerous in Africa than in Asia; they are there also less mistrustful, not 

 so wild, and, as if they knew the unskilfulness and the little power of the 

 men with whom they have to deal in this part of the world, come every 

 day without fear to their habitations. 



The following extracts are furnished by Major Denham : " While I was 

 thus employed, Maramy came galloping up, saying that he had found three 

 very large elephants, grazing to the south-east, close to the water ; when he 

 came within a few hundred yards of them, all the persons on foot, and my 

 servant on a mule, were ordered to halt, while four of us, who were mount- 

 ed, rode up to these stupendous animals. 



" The Shiekh's people began screeching violently ; and although, at first, 

 the elephants appeared to treat our approach with contempt, yet they soon 

 moved off, erecting their ears, and giving a roar that shook the ground 

 under us. One was an immense felloAv, I should suppose sixteen feet high ; 

 the other two were females, and moved away rather quickly, while the 

 male kept in the rear, as if to guard their retreat. We wheeled swiftly 

 round him; and Maramy casting a spear at him, which struck him just un- 

 der the tail, and seemed to give him about as much pain as when we prick 

 our finger with a pin the huge beast threv/ up his proboscis in the air with 

 a loud roar, and from it cast such a volume of sand, that, unprepared as I 

 was for such an event, nearly blinded me. The elephant will sometimes 

 rush upon a man and horse, and after choking them with dust, will destroy 

 them in an instant. 



"As we had cut him off from following his companions, he took the 

 direction leading to where we had left the mule and the footmen ; they 

 quickly fled in all directions, and my man Columbus was so alarmed, that 

 he did not get the better of it for the whole day. We pressed the elephant 

 now very close, riding before, behind, and on each side of him ; and his 

 look sometimes, as he turned his head, had the effect of instantly checking 

 the speed of my horse ; his pace never exceeded a clumsy rolling walk, but 

 Avas sufficient to keep our horses in a short gallop. I gave him a ball from 

 each barrel of my gun, at about fifty yards distance ; but the first, which 

 struck him on the body, failed in making the least impression. After giving 

 him another spear, which flew off his tough hide without exciting the least 

 sensation, we left him to his fate. 



"News was soon brought us that eight elephants were at no great dis- 

 tance, and coming towards us; it was thought prudent to chase them away, 

 and we all mounted for that purpose. They appeared unwilling to go, and 

 did not even turn their backs till we were quite close, and had thrown 

 several spears at them ; the flashes from the pan of the gun, however, seem- 

 ed to alarm them more than any thing ; they retreated very majestically, 

 first throwing out as before, a quantity of sand. A number of the birds here 



