His Tusks Were, Like The
Generality Of Abyssinian Elephants, Exceedingly Short, But Of
Good Thickness.
Some of our men, who had followed the runaway horses, shortly
returned, and reported that, during our fight with the bull, they
had heard other elephants trumpeting in the dense nabbuk jungle
near the river.
A portion of thick forest of about two hundred
acres, upon this side of the river, was a tempting covert for
elephants, and the aggageers, who were perfectly familiar with
the habits of the animals, positively declared that the herd must
be within this jungle. Accordingly, we proposed to skirt the
margin of the river, which, as it made a bend at right angles,
commanded two sides of a square. Upon reaching the jungle by the
river side, we again heard the trumpet of an elephant and about
a quarter of a mile distant we observed a herd of twelve of these
animals shoulder-deep in the river, which they were in the act of
crossing to the opposite side, to secure themselves in an almost
impenetrable jungle of thorny nabbuk. The aggageers advised that
we should return to the ford that we had already crossed, and, by
repassing the river, we should most probably meet the elephants,
as they would not leave the thick jungle until the night. Having
implicit confidence in their knowledge of the country, I followed
their directions, and we shortly recrossed the ford, and arrived
upon a dry portion of the river's bed, banked by a dense thicket
of nabbuk.
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