368 elephants' tenacity of life. 



had discharged more than one spear at him. As they had no 

 more, they sent for me to finish him. In order to put him 

 at once out of pain, I went to within twenty yards, there 

 being a bank between us which he could not readily climb. 

 I rested the gun upon an ant-hill, so as to take a steady 

 aim; but, though I fired twelve two-ounce bullets (all I 

 had) into different parts, I could not kill him. As it was 

 becoming dark, I advised my men to let him stand, being 

 sure of finding him dead in the morning ; but, though we 

 searched all the next day, and went more than ten miles, 

 we never saw him again. I mention this to young men 

 who may think that the}'' will be able to hunt elephants 

 on foot by adopting the Ceylon practice of killing them 

 by one ball in the brain. I believe that in Africa the 

 practice of standing before an elephant, expecting to kill 

 him with one shot, would be certain death to the hunter ; 

 and I would add for the information of those who may 

 think that, because I met with a great abundance of game 

 here, they also might find rare sport, that the tsetse exists 

 all along both banks of the Zambesi, and there can be no 

 hunting by means of horses. Hunting on foot in this climate 

 is such excessively hard work that I feel certain the keenest 

 sportsman would very soon turn away from it in disgust. 

 I myself was rather glad, when furnished with the excuse 

 that I had no longer any balls, to hand over all the hunting 

 to my men, who had no more love for the sport than myself, 

 as they never engaged in it except when forced by hunger. 

 Some of them gave me a hint to melt down my plate by 

 asking if it were not lead. I had two pewter plates and a 

 piece of zinc, which I now melted into bullets. I also spent 

 the remainder of my handkerchiefs in buying spears for 

 them. My men frequently surrounded herds of buffaloes 

 and killed numbers of the calves. I, too, exerted myself 

 greatly; but, as I am now obliged to shoot with the left 

 arm, I am a bad shot, and this, with the lightness of tho 

 bullets, made me very unsuccessful. The more the hunger, 

 the less my success, invariably. 



