ELEPHANT HUNTING. 501 



Being obliged to remain on account of a threatened set-in rain, 

 the doctor bought a senze (aulocaudatus swindernianus), a rat- 

 looking animal ; he was glad to get anything in the shape of 

 meat. 



The next day was no better, and the few lines he wrote tell 

 a sad story : " It is a set-in rain. The boiling-point ther- 

 mometer shows an altitude of three thousand five hundred and 

 sixty-five feet above the sea. Barometer, three thousand nine 

 hundred and eighty-three feet ditto. We get a little maere here, 

 and prefer it to being drenched and our goods spoiled. We 

 have neither sugar nor salt, so there are no soluble goods ; but 

 cloth and gunpowder get damaged easily. It is hard fare and 

 scanty ; I feel always hungry, and am constantly dreaming of 

 better food when I should be sleeping. Savory viands of former 

 times come vividly up before the imagination, even in my wak- 

 ing hours; this is rather odd as I am not a dreamer; indeed I 

 scarcely ever dream but when I am going to be ill or actually so." 



They were now on the northwestern brim of the great Loangwa 

 valley. The rainy season, which had fully set in, is the harvest 

 time for the expert hunters of the country. The ground soon 

 becomes exceedingly boggy, and the elephant, taken at the dis- 

 advantage of sinking fifteen to eighteen inches in soft mud every 

 step they take, falls an easy prey to his skilful assailant. This 

 great giant of the forest is always easily confused, as we know, 

 by the packs of yelping dogs. The hunters of this valley are 

 doubly secure when they add this confusion to the embarrass- 

 ment of bad footing. They watch their time and run up behind 

 the elephant and with a single blow of a sharp axe hamstring 

 him. In other parts of the country the method of hunting 

 these huge monsters is more perilous, and more skilful than 

 with spear, axe or gun. The sword figures as the chosen weapon. 

 The hunters surround the animal, and eluding all his assaults, 

 while near enough to torment him greatly with their sharp and 

 glittering blades, with matchless dexterity succeed in dealing 

 the disabling and fatal blows. Mr. Baker, who witnessed much 

 of this sword hunting, declares that nothing can excel the 

 wonderful skill of these men. 



But half starved and full of pain, his whole heart set on the 

 accomplishment of a great work, Livingstone thought little of 



