78 MATABELE LAND. 
It was a cow elephant, and vultures and other 
creatures had got the end of the trunk and what 
they could without breaking the skin. Fires were 
lighted and meat cooked and devoured, whilst large 
pieces were put aside for removal. When the filth was 
extracted from one of the tusks, ' Sassaybi ' ^ threw 
back his head and held it up first to one then to the 
other nostril. This is supposed to be a good thing 
for any one troubled with nose-bleeding on hot days. 
Sassaybi likewise scraped some stuff like cobbler's 
wax from where the tusk is inserted in the skin. He 
said it was to be used as a charm. ... As we travel 
through the bush Indian file, returning to the waggon, 
Echle (the chief hunter I have with me), meeting a 
small tortoise, picks it up, spits on it, and puts it to 
his forehead. He says this is lucky when you want 
to get elephants, and he says, however large the tor- 
toise is, this is done. He is then allowed to walk 
off 
^^ October i6t/i. — Shots heard near the waggon 
early, and Nelson arrives, having shot a fine bull 
eland quite near to my waggon. He says he was 
looking for elephant spoor when he found the eland, 
and drove him seven miles. He is a mighty brute, 
bigger than an average bullock. The hide is very 
thick. We had breakfast on eland steak fried in fat, 
and enjoyed it very much. Nelson says, when in 
Damaraland, he got a young elephant, but it died 
from neglect coming through seventy miles of the 
' thirst land.' He says they are easy to keep, and so 
^ One of the boys. 
