60 ELEPHANT-HUNTING. 



are in many places thickly wooded ; whilst in other 

 parts huge masses of ponderous rock, " in craggy 

 nakedness sublime," overhang the deep and gloomy 

 ravine. The river flowing calmly in the hollow between 

 those frowning heights, which slope gradually towards 

 its banks, many hundred feet beneath their summit, 

 empties itself into the sea in a south-easterly direction. 

 Having myself a strong inclination to witness an ele- 

 phant hunt, I determined on accompanying Thack- 

 wray in his pursuit, during which it was our inten- 

 tion to have visited a spot called The Cave, his 

 usual resort upon these occasions ; but on our way 

 towards it we came upon the track of elephants, evi- 

 dently quite fresh, from which my companion felt 

 assured that the animals could not be far distant. 

 Making our way through the entangled forest, we 

 arrived at an eminence, when Thackwray sud- 

 denly exclaimed, " There they are!" — having de- 

 scried the objects of his search at some distance, 

 though my inexperienced eye was unable to dis- 

 tinguish them amidst the surrounding bush. De- 

 scending a dark ravine, through which it was neces- 

 sary to pass in order that we might approach the 

 elephants unobserved, we were compelled to dis- 

 mount and lead our horses over the roots and 

 branches of trees that had been torn up and scat- 

 tered by the animals in their progress. When Thack- 

 wray and his assistant had loaded their rifles, we 

 took a circuitous direction, and arrived at a thicket, 



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