126 
THE ELEPHANT OF AFRICA. 
and Camel in the northern regions; neither do 
any of the late travellers in Northern Africa men- 
tion them as being domesticated. It is attacked 
only as a sport or amusement, or as a matter of 
emolument. Our task will, therefore, only be to 
recount one or two of those dangerous adventures 
which so well portray the coolness and dexterity 
of the Hottentot, and others which may throw 
some light on the habits or dispositions of the 
animal. 
The African Elephant not being of such bulky 
proportions as that of India, the risk of attacking it, 
or the difficulty of its destruction, is not thought 
more of than the hunting of the Lion or the Tiger in 
India. Colonel Williamson, a person of experience 
in these matters, however, is of a different opinion, 
and thinks, that neither (< natives nor Europeans 
would undertake such a piece of rashness as to go 
out shooting wild Elephants.” In Africa it is 
different, and all the three huge African animals 
are not only shot, but also speared by the naked 
Hottentot, who trusts to his agility only for his 
escape.* The encounters are certainly sometimes 
fatal to the aggressor, and dreadful then is tlie 
deed of retaliation and revenge. We shall 
transcribe one of Pringle’s African sketches, 
Pringle speaks of one of the settlers at Enon lying 
concealed among the forest wood, and shooting the Ele- 
phants as they passed down the glen at mid-day. 
