CHAP. VII.] 
ELEPHANTS. 
179 
and food. After a march of two or three hours through 
the beautiful hunting-grounds formed by the valley of 
Latooka, with its alternate prairies and jungles, I came 
upon the tracks of rhinoceros, giraffes, and elephants, 
and shortly moved a rhinoceros, but could get no shot, 
owing to the thick bush in which he started and dis¬ 
appeared quicker than I could dismount. After a 
short circuit in search of the rhinoceros, we came upon 
a large herd of buffaloes, but at the same moment 
we heard elephants trumpeting at the foot of the 
mountains. Not wishing to fire, lest the great game 
should be disturbed, I contented myself with riding 
after the buffaloes, wonderfully followed on foot by 
Adda, who ran like a deer, and almost kept up with 
my horse, hurling his three lances successively at the 
buffaloes, but without success. I had left the camels 
in an open plain, and returning from the gallop after 
the buffaloes, I saw the men on the camels beckoning 
to me in great excitement. Cantering towards them, 
they explained that a herd of bull elephants had just 
crossed an open space, and had passed into the jungle 
beyond. There was evidently abundance of game ; and 
calling my men together, I told them to keep close to 
me with the spare horses and rifles, while I sent the 
Latookas ahead to look out for the elephants: we 
followed at a short distance. 
In about ten minutes we saw the Latookas hurrying 
towards us, and almost immediately after, I saw two 
enormous bull elephants with splendid tusks about a 
hundred yards from us, apparently the leaders of an 
approaching herd. The ground was exceedingly favour¬ 
able, being tolerably open, and yet with sufficient bush 
to afford a slight cover. Presently, several elephants 
appeared and joined the two leaders—there was evi¬ 
dently a considerable number in the herd, and I was 
on the point of dismounting to take the first shot on 
foot, when the Latookas, too eager, approached the 
herd; their red and blue helmets at once attracted 
the attention of the elephants, and a tremendous rush 
1ST 2 
