CHAP. XXIII. 
THE ELEPHANT-HUNT. 
243 
day. Fortune, however, favoured the brave in this 
case, as I believe she always does; and during the 
night an express arrived from the Port-Captain at the 
mouth of the Knysna, or Port Eex, to say that, owing 
to the severe gale the day before, the bar at the en¬ 
trance of the harbour had 6 got up ’ to such an extent 
that the 6 Petrel ’ would not be able to cross it, or get 
out of the inner harbour, for some days. On the 
receipt of this news His Eoyal Highness said, e Very 
well, gentlemen, the elements prevent me from keeping 
my engagement; it is not my fault that I cannot do 
so; I am now, therefore, prepared to continue the 
elephant-hunt.’ We all rejoiced at this decision, and 
at once rousing up the native hunters, started them 
off in another direction to look up some elephants. 
The Prince, his Excellency the G-overnor, and party 
followed at daybreak next morning, but not before we 
had partaken of a hasty breakfast, one dish being of 
fi scrambled eggs,’ prepared by His Eoyal Highness him¬ 
self. Servants were also sent on with baskets of pro- 
vender for breakfast or lunch, as the case might be. 
Our route lay through the same great forest which 
we had previously traversed, and we were making for 
the Downs to the eastward of the Knysna, where it was 
known that several ‘rover’ elephants had lately been 
seen. It was a long way through the great forest, but 
as we approached the outskirts, or broken and detached 
R 2- 
