I had been fortunate in bagging four from this
herd, in addition to the single bull in the morning; total, five.
Florian had killed one and the aggageers one; total, seven elephants.
One had escaped that I had wounded in the shoulder, and two that had
been wounded by Florian. The aggageers were delighted, and they
determined to search for the wounded elephants on the following day, as
the evening was advancing, and we were about five miles from camp.
At daybreak the next morning the aggageers in high glee mounted their
horses, and with a long retinue of camels and men, provided with axes
and knives, together with large gum sacks to contain the flesh, they
quitted the camp to cut up the numerous elephants. As I had no taste for
this disgusting work, I took two of my Tokrooris, Hadji Ali and Hassan,
and, accompanied by old Abou Do, the father of the sheik, with his
harpoon, we started along the margin of the river in quest of
hippopotami.
The harpoon for hippopotamus and crocodile hunting is a piece of soft
steel about eleven inches long, with a narrow blade or point of about
three quarters of an inch in width and a single but powerful barb.
