(314 CHARGE OF AN ELEPHANT. 



so much affected by the weather as the rest of the ring itself: 

 the edges of the rings thus stand out plainly. Mr. Quekett, hav- 

 ing kindly examined some specimens, finds that it is " silicified 

 coniferous wood of the Aeaucaeian type ; and the nearest allied 

 wood that he knows of is that found, also in a fossil state, in 

 New South Wales." The numbers of large game were quite 

 astonishing. I never saw elephants so tame as those near the 

 Chiponga : they stood close to our path without being the least 

 afraid. This is different from their conduct where they have 

 been accustomed to guns, for there they take alarm at the dis- 

 tance of a mile, and begin to run if a shot is fired even at a 

 longer distance. My men killed another here, and rewarded the 

 villagers of the Chiponga for their liberality in meal by loading 

 them with flesh. We spent a night at a baobab, which was hol- 

 low, and would hold twenty men inside. It had been used as a 

 lodging-house by the Babisa. 



As we approached nearer the Zambesi, the country became 

 covered with broad-leaved bushes, pretty thickly planted, and we 

 had several times to shout to elephants to get out of our way. 

 At an open space, a herd of buffaloes came trotting up to look at 

 our oxen, and it was only by shooting one that I made them 

 retreat. The meat is very much like that of an ox, and this one 

 was very fine. The only danger we actually encountered was 

 from a female elephant, with three young ones of different sizes. 

 Charging through the centre of our extended line, and causing 

 the men to throw down their burdens in a great hurry, she 

 received a spear for her temerity. I never saw an elephant with 

 more than one calf before. We knew that we were near our 

 Zambesi again, even before the great river burst upon our sight, 

 by the numbers of water-fowl we met. I killed four geese with 

 two shots, and, had I followed the wishes of my men, could 

 have secured a meal of water-fowl for the whole party. I never 

 saw a river with so much animal life around and in it, and, as the 

 Barotse say, "Its fish and fowl are always fat." When our eyes 

 were gladdened by a view of its goodly broad waters, we found it 

 very much larger than it is even above the falls. One might try 

 to make his voice heard across it in vain. Its flow was more rapid 

 than near Sesheke, being often four and a half miles an hour, and, 

 what I never saw before, the water was discolored and of a deep 



