GREGARIOUS HABITS. 
297 
and are found singly or in pairs, or consorting 
together in small herds, varying, say, from four or 
five to fifteen or twenty; and it is only in the rainy 
season, extending from February to May, during 
which time, it is said, few hunters go in pur¬ 
suit of these animals, that they (the old bulls) are 
with the females; and when the cold weather sets 
in, they again retire from the company of the 
latter. 
Though I myself have never seen any very great 
number of elephants congregated together—perhaps 
not more than from one hundred to one hundred 
and fifty—yet other South African travellers have 
met with very enormous herds of those animals. 
Both Harris and Oswell have seen, they tell us, 
about three hundred in company. This number, 
however, is as nothing compared with what we 
read of on the East coast. It is asserted, indeed, 
that in an extensive forest in that part of Africa 
known as the ce Fish Fiver Bush” (where, from the 
extent and denseness of the cover, elephants are 
comparatively safe from persecution), no fewer than 
fifteen hundred have been seen in the course of a 
single day! 
Mr. Bose, an engineer officer who travelled in 
South Africa, goes even further. He informs us 
that a certain hunter of his acquaintance told him 
that he had once seen a herd consisting of three 
thousand elephants; and from the number of 
paths he (Mr. Bose) himself observed, he imagined 
there was no exaggeration in the account. 
Without intending to throw the shadow of a 
