THE ELEPHANT OF AFRICA. 
129 
“ Among the mimosa trees sprinkled over the 
meadows, or lower bottoms, the traces of then- 
operations were not less apparent. Immense 
numbers of these trees had been torn out of the 
ground, and placed in an inverted position, in 
order to enable the animals to browse at their 
ease on their juicy roots, which form a favourite 
part of their food. I observed that, in numerous 
instances, when the trees were of considerable 
size, the Elephant had employed one of his tusks, 
exactly as we would use a crow-bar — thrusting it 
under the roots to loosen their hold of the earth, 
before he attempted to tear them up with his pro- 
boscis. Many of the larger mimosas had resisted 
all their efforts ; and, indeed, it is only after heavy 
rains, when the soil is soft and loose, that they 
can successfully attempt this operation. 
“ While we were admiring these and other indi- 
cations of the Elephant’s strength and sagacity, 
we suddenly found ourselves, on issuing from a 
woody defile, in the midst of a numerous herd of 
those animals. None of them, however, were 
very close to us ; but they were seen scattered in 
groups over the bottom and sides of a valley two 
or three miles in length ; some browsing on the 
succulent spekboom, which clothed the skirts of 
the hills on either side ; others at work among the 
young mimosas and evergreens sprinkled over 
VOL. XXIII. 
i 
