166 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER ch. 
a misrepresentation of facts. Only the very in¬ 
experienced hunter could possibly misconstrue this 
simple defensive action of a wounded animal 
into a threat of mischief, and I feel sure that 
many a blind rush to escape the danger at hand, 
which chanced to come in the direction of the 
hunter, has been mistaken for a wilful and vicious 
charge. 
I should like, at this point, to. discountenance the 
assertion made by many writers and believed by the 
general public at large, that all kinds of African big 
game—especially elephants—are being swiftly and 
surely exterminated. They who make such sweep¬ 
ing statements most certainly know little about the 
subject, and probably draw their conclusions from 
the insufficient data that they acquire by following 
the beaten track. In the Congo State, in German 
East Africa, in Portuguese East Africa, in British 
East Africa, and in Uganda there are, quite apart 
from innumerable game reservations, thousands of 
square miles of quite uninhabited country in which 
there are hundreds of thousands of elephants and of 
every other kind of game, with the exception, 
perhaps, of giraffes. 
Taking into consideration the laws promulgated 
during the last few years by all civilized countries 
for the preservation of big game within their 
African possessions, instead of any risk of exter- 
