A DREAEY TI3IE 



35 



climbing in his excitement on to tlie smallest of tlie elephants, 

 the better to make his shouts of delight heard at a distance, 

 when to every one's astonishment the animal suddenly got up. 

 He had been merely stunned by the blow on the head, and two 

 more bullets were needed to finish him off. 



At this time we were still quite inexperienced in hunting- 

 elephants. We did not know what were the best weapons or 

 at what part of the huge skull to aim to inflict a mortal wound, 

 and it was through many a gruesome moment that we won 

 our knowledge later. 



We were now at a height of about 5,050 feet above the sea- 

 level, but the sun was still terribly hot at noon ( + 33° to 36° 

 Centigrade), but on the other hand the difference between the 

 day and night temperature was very marked, the thermometer 

 generally registering from +6° to +10° Centigrade at sunrise. 

 Our people suffered the more from these changes as there were 

 no materials either for making huts or for fuel close at hand ; 

 and the latter had to be fetched from a distance. Life was 

 rather a dreary affair just now. The only thing of which we 

 had plenty was meat. Most of the men had to accompany the 

 Count on his hunting expeditions in the afternoon, whilst the 

 few left behind either went to collect fuel or cut up meat to be 

 dried in the sun. Then all the game killed had to be brought 

 home, a work often not finished till after dark, and sometimes 

 loads of meat were sent to Nyemps, a good eight German miles 

 off. At first these trips were made in two days, but later, the 

 men being afraid to pass the night in the wilderness in small 

 parties, the distance of sixteen German miles there and back 

 was accomplished in one day, and on one occasion a medicine- 

 chest weighing over a hundredweight was brought back, as 

 Count Teleki wanted some of its contents for me. 



The heaps of game collected in this hunting camp of ours 

 attracted immense quantities of scavenger birds and hyenas, 



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