310 
TTTE ELEPHANT. 
panied by the rest of the troop, was soon lost to 
view in the jungle. I hailed their departure with 
rapture; for, though I had failed in my object, I 
felt heartily thankful that roy life was saved. 
One morning when on a journey, principally de¬ 
voted to geographical discoveries, while encamped 
at a place called Hokahanja, in Damaraland, a native 
suddenly st dropped in,” and silently deposited at 
my feet a small branch of a thorn-tree. Any expla¬ 
nation on the man’s part was unnecessary; for, 
after carefully examining the twig, which was much 
jagged and cut by the marks of teeth, I at once 
came to the conclusion that it had been torn from 
its stem only a few hours previous by elephants. 
I therefore merely inquired, “ Where are they ? and 
how many in number?” To the first of my queries 
he replied by pointing to some low broken hills in 
the neighbourhood; to the second he could give no 
precise answer. He had left some of his companions, 
however, he told me, to watch the movements of 
the animals. 
In some ten minutes, I was en route, duly 
equipped. After a rapid and hot march of rather 
less than two hours’ duration, we saw the three na¬ 
tives left as sentinels running towards us in fiery 
haste, exclaiming, out of breath, “ We have seen 
them ! we have seen them! there are three of 
them! But there”—pointing to a small emi¬ 
nence on which was posted one of their companions, 
looking in the distance very much like a huge ba¬ 
boon—“you can see for yourself.” I did not wait 
to be told this twice, and had soon the satisfaction 
