HAMLYiVS MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 



45 



of a deceased and over-ripe crow. I settled com- 

 fortably in a deck-chair, well to w'ndward, and 

 learned more facts about lice, their manners and 

 customs. This put in the time until about 12 

 o'clock, whe some one was inconsiderate enough 

 to call out that the Major was coming. The whole 

 party made a dash to the edge of the clearing 

 when Major Pietorius and his party could be 

 seen walking across the veld. Someone with 

 sharper eyes than the resit detected a baby ele- 

 phant following close behind the Major. Every- 

 one who possessed a camera made a rush for it, 

 and we all trooped across to meet the party. 

 Major Pretorius, on being accosted, expressed a 

 strong desire for a drink, and remarked casually 

 that he had killed three elephants, and left a 

 fourth for dead while he pursued the calf, the 

 last mentioned elephant, however, recovered 

 sufficiently to escape into the bush. 



It appears that shortly after entering the 

 bush the elephants were located standing in an 

 open space. The Major did his best to stalk 

 them, but they "got his wind" before he reached 

 them, and quietly slipped into the dense bush. 

 He ultimatelv reached their position and got closie 

 up to one of them. The bush was so thick that 

 he was unable to say, at first, whether he was 

 looking at the beast's head or rump, although 

 only a few yards separated them. After watch- 

 ing for some time he detected the elephant's eye, 

 and at once fired a shot, which penetrated that 

 organ. It took three more shots to finish the 

 beast off, and by this time the rest of the herd 

 had decamped. 



After collecting his boys, and leaving a cou- 

 ple of them : n charge of the dead elephant, he 

 continued to follow up the spoor, and in about 

 an hour's time came upon the herd again. On 

 this occasion he got right in among them and 

 dropped one at six paces with a single shot, while 

 two others fell after receiving two wounds each, 

 the last animal literally falling on the top of the 

 first beast killed; this one afterwards recovered 

 sufficiently to move *me distance away, where it 

 died The dogs had kept the elephants busy, 

 but by the time the third elephant fell they had 

 broken away, the pace being too fast for the 

 calf, which one of the boys found floundering in 

 the scrub. With considerable difficulty the little 

 chap was secured, and, after being handled for 

 a few minutes, was released. It showed no fear 

 of its captors, and followed closely belrnd them 

 through the thick bush, and across the veld to 

 the camp. While we remained there it had the 

 free use of the camp, and used to wander about 

 poking its trunk into the beds and tents, and 

 investigating generally. The first two nights it 

 made a great deal of noise, and disturbed our 

 slumber by squealing like a pig in distress, but 



this was found to be due to the fact that its keeper 

 tried to force it to go where he wanted it. When 

 left to its own devices it gave no trouble. It 

 soon learned to drink milk from a bottle, and 

 when we left the camp it was in the best of con- 

 dition, and perfectly at home. 



After lunch and an hour's rest, the Major 

 started back to the scene of the morning's shoot- 

 ing, and several of us accompanied him. On 

 the way we were joined by an armed commando 

 composed of surrounding farmers. The news 

 had spread, and they were anxious to see what 

 was to be seen. They were all mounted and 

 everyone carried a firearm of some sort or an- 

 other. One elderly gentleman was the happy 

 possessor of a Snider rifle — a weapon which was 

 declared obselete in the British Army 40 years 

 ago< — while a small boy brought up the rear with 

 a modern shot gun. 



The ride through the bush was anything but 

 a pleasant experience, the track was a narrow 

 elephant path, overhung with thorn trees which 

 took heavy toll of one's clothing. It was neces- 

 sary, at frequent intervals, to lie flat on the horses 

 neck to avoid branches overhead. It was also 

 very important to keep in close touch with the 

 man in front, as nothing is easver than to get 

 lost in bush of that nature. And here I might 

 remark on the almost uncanny sense of direction 

 and locality possessed by Major Pretorius. With- 

 out any difficulty he will go straight to a given 

 spot in the bush, by the shortest route, and never 

 seems to falter or hesitate on the way. 



After over an hour's ride the party, which 

 included Mrs. Pretorius and a young lady who 

 had only been out of England five weeks, and 

 who had never been on a horse in her life before 

 that occasion, arrived at the spot where the ele- 

 phants had been killed. These were lying about 

 ten yards apart in dense bush, which had to be 

 cleared away with axes before the skinning 

 operations commenced. 



I made a careful examination of the sur- 

 rounding bush, and found it flattened down in 

 places if it had been cleared by a gang of Kaffirs. 

 This was caused by the herd (some 30 in number) 

 charging through the bush. One of the elephants 

 had fallen within six paces of where Major Pre- 

 torius was standing when he shot it, and the 

 other a few yards further away. The process of 

 skinning is a lengthy one after which the meat 

 is cut up into biltong, and the skeleton removed 

 to the camp. The latter entails a lot of time and 

 labour. A track is cut through the bush and the 

 skeleton is dragged by oxen. It took about a 

 day and a half to get the skull and jaws of one 

 of the beasts to the camp. Elephant meat is quite 

 a delicacy, and tastes not unlike beef. The trunk 



