HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
35 
AFTER ELEPHANTS WITH 
CAMERA. 
IN THE ADDO BUSH. 
A more exciting form of sport can hardly be 
imagined, much less experienced, than the photo- 
graphing of big game in their wild state, writes 
J.S.M. in the "S.A. Railways and Harbours 
Magazine." Shooting at the present time is more 
than anything else a matter of keeping one's 
nerves fairly steady. The magazine rifle, or the 
heavy automatic repeater, gives the hunter an 
additional power which was never thought of in 
the days of the old muzzle-loader. Then the sun- 
dry operations of ramming down powder, wad, 
and shot or ball, took considerable time, and, in- 
deed, appeared to be numberless hours when time 
was reckoned with a wounded animal making for 
one. Nowadays, with the pressure of al finger, 
six, seven or ten rounds may be fired without re- 
moving the gun from one's shoulder (I might 
have added even 900 rounds a minute, only sports- 
men have not yet taken to using a Lewis gun for 
shooting anything but vermin), and even if the 
first shot is not mortal (as it should be), provided 
one keeps cool, there is no actual need to turn 
tail and run, a very dangerous, if not the most 
dangerous, practice one can adopt. 
But, besides the foregoing, the distance which 
modern weapons are able to kill seldom forces 
the hunter to within definite range. Two, three, 
or four hundred yards with a good gun is quite 
an everyday piece of work. But not so with a 
camera. No picture is of the slightest value out 
of focus, for the animal might be at any distance 
and appear a mere smudge in the middle of a 
larger one. It is therefore absolutely essential 
to get within focal range, and this is where the 
fun begins. 
In the Addo Bush, where the African ele- 
phants roam at large in their natural and wild 
state, it is no easy matter to work to the inviolate 
rule of a hunter and at the same, time work up to 
a clear view of the quarry within focal range of 
the camera. No one who has not had the ex- 
perience of penetrating that bush can realise what 
a dense jungle it is. The shrubs, for trees they 
cannot be called, are about 14 ft. high, and so 
dense as to make it impossible to see five yards 
anywhere same among the elephant and buck 
paths. This is no exaggeration. Time and time 
again, treading warily along some path, following 
the spoor of either elephant or buffalo, a sudden 
turn of the man in front (Indian file was the only 
way of travelling) would hide all from view, and 
it was only by following the boot marks that 
one could pick up the trail. At times, when cast- 
ing round, it was necessary to give a low call 
whistle in order to ascertain where each had got 
to, and no surprise was ever shown when the 
missing members appeared from a clump of scrub 
ag'ainst which perhaps one was standing'. It is 
one of the rules never to speak when on trail. 
A low whistle attracts attention, and signs are 
then followed. The breezy chatter and laughter 
of a day's murder at some well-stocked coverts 
must be dispensed with; and "warm corners," in 
hunting big game, consist of the necessity of fir- 
ing the second, or, if one is lucky, the third shot. 
More often than not, not a single shot was fired. 
Eor five days such was the case. A single shot, 
unless of absolute necessity, would cause the big 
game to* vanish into thin air and give endless track- 
ing to 1 come up with it again. No time was avail- 
able to sit in some well-worn path and wait for 
buck, for elephant and buffalo were wanted for 
the camera, and mile after mile of tracking had 
to be done before arriving somewhere near the 
elephants. They are nomadic. One cannot say 
for certain where they will be. Here to-day, there 
to-morrow, and perchance twenty miles away the 
third. One's luck may be in; generally it is out, 
except on those occasions when a farmer has no 
gun, and will relate how many elephant, buffalo, 
eland, etc., he saw. It- is always (or so it seems 
to a hunter) that luck. As long as one has a 
gun, one sees nothing, but leave your gun and 
one will brush up against anything*, anywhere, 
and at any time — early morning, noon or even- 
ing. 
The first encounter in the Addo Bush with 
an elephant was not nearly as exciting as the 
second; but the wiliness of these lumbering mon- 
sters can be fully shown. Having already covered 
some seven miles through the scrub, we were 
partaking of a frugal meal of a slice of dry bread 
and a round of English sausage, seated on the 
slope of a range of hills and on clear ground 
where evidently the soil gave no nourishment for 
the scrub. Below us, stretching miles either way, 
lay the bush. Here and there green patches where 
some fire had burnt the surrounding wood and the 
grass had shown through. The rest an emerald 
sea, here and there the brighter green of some 
bush giving a spot of colour from which to take 
bearings. The whole gave an impression that 
one could walk on the top as we would walk along 
a level stretch of turf. Suddenly a small whitish- 
grey patch showed down in the plain. In pro- 
portionate size to its surroundings, it looked no 
bigger than one's thumbnail. Our glasses were 
instantly fixed on this patch, and it proved to be 
a bull elephant who was standing in the sun doz- 
ing. A gentle swaying to and fro indicated this; 
so lunch was gone on with. The distance was 
some 3,000 yards, and with the aid of the power- 
ful glasses carried, and by further watching, a 
cow and her calS elephant were seen standing 
