362 
THE ELEPHANT. 
siderable time in their company., and was a witness 
to their wonderful performances. And, though in 
the main the same tale is told by both the distin¬ 
guished travellers, still, as the subject is interest¬ 
ing, and Sir Samuel goes into more details, 
I will take leave to quote what, in substance, he 
says of the remarkable men in question. 
c * They, the Aggajeers, belong to a particular 
tribe of Arabs — the Hamrans — inhabiting the 
country south of Cassala, between that town and 
the Base country, who are only to be distin¬ 
guished from the neighbouring tribes by an extra 
length of hair, worn parted down the centre, and 
arranged in long curls, and who, when about to 
attack the elephant, are merely armed with the 
sword, which differs not in form from that usually 
worn, but is bound with cord very closely from 
the guard for about nine inches (Bruce says four¬ 
teen) along the blade, to enable him to grasp it 
with the right hand, whilst the hilt is held by the 
left, thus converted into a two-handed sword. The 
scabbard (Bruce speaks of the weapon being with¬ 
out that appendage) is strengthened by an extra 
covering formed of the elephant’s ear. 
“ Their way of hunting the elephant differs. 
Those hunters who cannot afford to purchase horses 
hunt on foot, in parties not exceeding two persons. 
Their method is to follow the tracks of the ele¬ 
phant, so as to arrive at their game between the 
hours of 10 a.m. and noon, at which time the 
animal is either asleep or extremely listless, and 
easy to approach. Should they discover it asleep. 
