40 THE ELEPHANT 



Still, occasionally, tusks of 60 or 65 lbs. are some- 

 times brought to the coast, but I am inclined to 

 regard these as the largest that are now here 

 obtainable. 



In the hot rainy months of the summer season 

 these animals wander all over the districts men- 

 tioned, but, in my experience at least, the dry 

 season causes them to withdraw, generally speak- 

 ing, from the low levels to higher forested country, 

 whence they rarely descend except during the 

 seasons of the ripening of certain fruits. In 

 Zambezia they are usually found, at the time of 

 year mentioned, in herds of six or seven to thirty 

 or more, and although their feeding time is chiefly 

 at night, they nevertheless continue, when un- 

 disturbed, browsing intermittently during the 

 day, moving slowly, in a long irregular line, 

 unless their attention be drawn to some par- 

 ticularly attractive article of diet, when they draw 

 together and investigate it, moving off again to 

 rest, during the heat of the day, in the cool, shady 

 depths of the denser forests. Apart from the 

 herds, however, there are a great number of aged 

 solitary beasts who, for one ^reason or another, 

 but generally that of age, have been cast out, or 

 have withdrawn from the society of their fellows, 

 and these are often extremely suspicious and 

 dangerous to approach. But in cases where the 

 wind is steady and favourable there is probably 

 no animal easier to get near. Even where cover 

 may be scanty, accidental noises which would 

 put other animals instantly on the qui vive are 

 often wholly disregarded. I have even known 



