858 
CHAPTBE VIII. 
HAMSTRINGING- OF ELEPHANTS BY THE CAFFRES—BRUCE’S AC¬ 
COUNT — THE PITFALL—USE OF POISONED JAVELINS — THE 
RHINOCEROS, THE ELEPHANT’S ENEMY—COMBATS BETWEEN 
MALE ELEPHANTS—STRUCK BY LIGHTNING—THE CHASSE IN 
ABYSSINIA—THE AGGAJEERS—THEIR MANNER OF KILLING THE 
ELEPHANT—FREEMASONRY AMONG HUNTERS. 
CCOKDING to Montgomery Martin, “ the 
il Caffres are accustomed to steal behind and 
hamstring the elephant, after which it is easy for 
them to dispatch the animal with their assegais ” and 
though this statement may be perfectly accurate, 
yet I do not find it corroborated by any other South 
African traveller, or sportsman. 
In parts of Abyssinia, however, it is a common 
practice with certain of the natives (the same spoken 
of in Chapter IX., page 148), to attack the elephant 
with the sword alone, and it is thus described by 
the celebrated Bruce :— 
“An hour before daylight, and after a hearty 
breakfast,” says this intrepid and truthful traveller, 
“ we mounted on horseback, to the number of about 
thirty; but there was another body, both of horse 
and foot, who made hunting the elephant their par¬ 
ticular business. These men dwell constantly in 
