3z Great and Small Game of Africa 



rear out of the way, and the sportsman and his two or three gun-bearers 

 and trackers will prepare to advance against the herd. 



The direction of the wind — the most important thing of all to know 

 in this kind of shooting — must first be tested by throwing up a handful 

 of sand or a tuft of dry grass, or by wetting the finger and holding it up. 

 The four horsemen follow without dismounting, keeping about 200 yards 

 in rear of the party on foot. 



So far all has been in the nature of preliminary arrangement ; the 

 excitement of the hunt now begins. 



The tracks will be easy to follow, marked as the path of the herd 

 will be by pieces of chewed aloe, with the saliva still wet upon them, 

 or by the upturned thorn-trees or the broken branches which the elephants 

 have thrown carelessly aside as they fed slowly along. At last a crash 

 may be heard in the forest 100 or 200 yards distant, or the loud "swish" 

 of a mass of creepers pulled down by a feeding elephant, or again, a sudden 

 squeal or the rumbling sound which elephants give out when feeding 

 may be heard, or the elephants may be quietly standing at rest, grouped 

 together in the shade of a bower of spreading " guda " trees ; the moving 

 ears, constantly flapping to keep away the flies, showing as blotches of 

 dull red, the colour of the soil last rolled in, contrasting with the darker 

 foliage. If visible, these spots will at once be seen by the keen -eyed 

 Somali hunters. When first sighted the herd will probably be from 100 

 to 150 yards away. A hillock, if one can be found near, is the best place 

 to reconnoitre from. 



The farther advance is chiefly a matter of wind, for it is mainly on 

 their keen sense of smell that elephants depend for news of impending 

 danger. 



The greatest difficulty is to pick out the elephant to be first attacked — 

 the one which is judged to be the largest bull — without giving the wind 

 to any other members of the herd. 



